10 replies to this topic

[Rail Paul]

The New Yorker has an article about an alternative preparation of Butter Chicken which uses the Instant Pot. A long, complicated task is reduced to an hour of cooking.  In a supreme compliment, the chef's husband said her IP chicken was even better than his mother's.

 

The IP fits the busy life style of people who don't have hours to allocate to their cooking opportunities.

 

 

 

https://www.newyorke...the-instant-pot

[mongo_jones]

as does any pressure cooker.

[prasantrin]

She uses her Instant Pot to make paneer in 14 minutes. Why do you need a pressure cooker to make paneer?

 

I wish I had gotten the Kindle version of her book when it was on sale. Sounds like it was at least worth a browse at 99cents, though not sure if so at $6.99. If anyone has Kindle Unlimited, you can read it for free!

[mongo_jones]

yes, making paneer in a pressure cooker seems like trying to find ways to make it seem versatile. i guess you can boil water in a pressure cooker too.

[Rail Paul]

Over a million people in the Facebook IP Indian food group.

[mongo_jones]

so?

[Rail Paul]

Are you objecting to the use of the Instant Pot, or an unorthodox technique for preparing a traditional meal?

[mongo_jones]

i don't object to the instant pot. it's just that the primary virtue that people find in it (speed of cooking) is found in every pressure cooker (and non-electric pressure cookers give you more control). and when people start touting things like making paneer in an instant pot, you've entered the realm of folly. it's very easy to make paneer on the stovetop.

 

also, that new yorker article is too uncritical--as so many articles on indian food are. pressure cooking is the norm in indian kitchens--even in the diaspora: the idea that indian cooks are discovering that dal etc. can be made quickly in the instant pot is laughable. i suspect the article conflates "indian" and "young second-generation indian-american". it's not that the latter group's experience is invalid--it's obviously not--but the new yorker should make some distinctions.

 

and if you want to dispel stereotypes about indian food, why lead with a recipe for butter chicken? 

[mongo_jones]

and the rajma (red bean) epiphany is farcical. for decades almost every indian home has made rajma only in a pressure cooker.

[mongo_jones]

here's an instant pot recipe for keema that will take longer (55 minutes by her count) than cooking it on the stove top but allow you to overcook the peas (just look at that sorry picture) and end up with chunks of tomato in the finished dish. this person has written a book on indian food in the instant pot.

 

but at least she knows how to transliterate "keema" into english, which the new yorker does not. there is is a kh consonant sound in hindi/urdu but not in keema.

[Rail Paul]

Thanks for the perspective.