Wow So Good! Instant Pot Now and Later Keto Indian Butter Chicken

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Indian Butter Chicken is a world famous and much loved dish. When I got this Indian Instant Pot cookbook by food blogger Urvashi Pitre of Two Sleevers.com I knew I had to give it a try. It is a great cookbook with lots of food dishes I want to try. I've done a few now and they all have been very good.

I cook with my Instant Pot at least a few times a week. Sometimes a few times a day. I have a pretty high success rate. I really like Indian food but the recipes and ingredients are full of styles and names I have never used. Thanks to this cookbook and the Instant Pot that is all changing.

I am grating my ginger, making my garam masala, and adding turmeric, and coconut milk just like it says.

In the Instant Pot world this is kind of a famous recipe.

The end result? Really good! I like that she has you make more sauce than you need. When you are done take out half of it to freeze or keep in the refrigerator.

It is Gluten-Free, High Fat, High Protein, Keto, Low Carb friendly.

In the new world of Instant Pot cooking there are already a few "must have" cookbooks for me. I have given these as gifts to friends that are new to the Instant Pot world.

I like Great Food Fast : Bob Warden's Ultimate Pressure Cooker Recipes it is the one that got me started.

Hip Pressure Cooking: Fast, Fresh, and Flavorful has a lot of good ideas and a website with a lot of videos.

This Indian Butter Chicken recipe can be found in the Indian Instant Pot cookbook and online here.

It takes 10 minutes at pressure in the Instant Pot then another 10 minutes to wait as it cools off before you add the finishing touches. In under 30 minutes you can have some great chicken.

On the plate is some riced cauliflower with cranberries and a few other things and naan with peach chutney.

follow Urvashi here

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By all means give this a try and just so you know what to shop for here is the ingredients list

1 14- ounce can diced tomatoes

5-6 cloves garlic

1-2 teaspoons minced ginger

1 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs (or use breast, bone-in, or whatever works for you. If frozen, add 1-2 minutes to total time)

To finish

4 ounces butter cut into cubes (use coconut oil if dairy free)

4 ounces heavy cream (use full-fat coconut milk if dairy free)

1 teaspoon garam masala

1/4-1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Winner Winner Instant Pot Chicken Tikka Masala Dinner

It's a good thing when your cooking looks at least a little like the cover.

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If you have an Instant Pot get this book!*

I made Chicken Tikka Masala from this Indian Instant Pot Cookbook by Urvashi Pitre of the Two Sleevers cooking blog. She has a lot of "low-carb appetizers, soups, and dinner recipes big on taste and short on calories. From Stove Top to Instant Pot, these recipes are fast, varied and most importantly...delicious."

It was really good and I got a passing grade from an experienced Indian food connoisseur.

There are a lot of ingredients I have never used and it does take some prep time but it was worth it. When you make the recipe you will make extra sauce. It can be used for a lot of things. I also made a coconut tomato soup from this book as a first course. It also tasted great.

I can't wait to make more from this cookbook.

Here is the recipe link and here is the ingredients list
she does include a garam masala recipe in the book

Marinate the chicken
1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken (breast or thighs), cut into large pieces
½ cups Greek yogurt
4 cloves garlic minced
2 teaspoons minced ginger minced
½ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon smoked paprika for color and a slightly smoky taste
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon liquid smoke (omit if unavailable)

For the sauce
1 onion, chopped
1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 carrot, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoon minced ginger minced
1 teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1-2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon ground cumin

To finish
4 ounce half and half (use full-fat coconut milk if dairy free)
1 teaspoon garam masala
¼-1/2 cup chopped cilantro

*Amazon Smile link supports the ALS Association Golden West Chapter

Plate Of Shrimp. No Explanation.

A plate of shrimp with a little explanation.

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I love this recipe from Cook's Illustrated for making shrimp. It looks good and turns out very tasty. You'll never want boiled shrimp again.

It does take some prep and you have to be very careful when using the broiler. We don't want to test the smoke alarm!

Before you do anything you have to make sure to get uncooked 16 to 20 per pound size shrimp with the shells on. Fresh is best frozen is ok. That's a pretty big size. Don't get anything smaller as the risk of overcooking goes way up.

Use some kitchen shears and cut up the back on the shell to the tail but not all the way. You want to leave it on for a heat shield and to add flavor.

Next you need to devein the shrimp and again be careful to make sure to leave the shell on.

Now give them a soak in some salty water for a quick brine for about 15 minutes.

While this is happening mix butter, garlic, pepper, parsley, and anise. I crush the anise then put it in a pan as I melt the butter and garlic. Then I strain out the anise and add the rest of the ingredients and set it aside.

Get the broiler ready and toss the prawns and garlic butter in a bowl.

Put the broiler pan about 4 inches from the broiler and set a 2 minute timer.

When the prawns get a nice color take them out, and flip them over, add more garlic butter if you have any left. If they need a little more time let them cook but be careful.

Broil for another 2 minutes or until they are done. The shells will have a beautiful roasted look and they will open up and split wide as the prawns cook.

Watch things carefully don't do anything else in the kitchen as they will overcook and/or burn fast!

You can turn the pan 180 degrees after a minute on each broiling session to even out the cooking and color but it isn't really necessary.

They will taste great!

here is the recipe

P.S. there is a lattice of coincidence that lays on top of everything

Turkish Coffee

#butfirstcoffee I used my ibrik to make Turkish style #coffee. It is very muddy and flavorful with the addition of some cardamom and stevia.

It smells and tastes good.

My buddy Bill and I did some coffee talk the other night and his love of Turkish coffee came up.

You need a really fine grind on the coffee (I think a dark roast works best) and you make it in these little pots by heating and cooling the mix. Slowly pour when done and the grounds stay in the bottom.

Stop when they start to try to escape!

Add what you like and enjoy.

There is no exact way to do this. People use different variations of basic ibrik coffee brewing.

Good info at sweetmarias.com and at Illy.com

I Cooked A Frozen Turkey (Not Fake News)

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2018 update: I have now done this about 4 times. Each time I did it the same way. Each time I have had very good results. Oh and FWIW Williams-Sonoma has a read on cooking a frozen turkey and another on cooking a turkey overnight at 200 degrees or less.

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I cooked a frozen turkey. No there isn't a punchline coming. The photo is the end result of what was once a rock solid frozen 14 pound Butterball turkey I bought at Safeway.

The turkey was moist and tasted pretty good. The skin was crispy and browned and with the simple gravy it was a great meal with butternut squash risotto, yams, and apple cranberry chutney.

Here is how I did it.

I just put the frozen turkey in a 325 oven on a lower rack in a rimmed baking sheet like you would use for cookies. That way hot air can get around it to cook. Don't use a roasting pan with high sides. Put a cup of water in the baking sheet. That's pretty much it.

So simple.

About 2 hours in I pulled out the packet inside and everything else. I put some bbq rub inside and outside. I was tempted to put some cut onions and things like that inside the turkey but I think you need to keep it open as much as possible to get the hot oven air inside the bird.

I made sure all of it got to 165 especially down near the bones but not on the bone. The breast will overshoot but that was ok. Have a reliable and calibrated thermometer to check the internal temperatures. Don't use those silly pop up things.

Total cooking time was about 5 1/2 hours. If you use a convection oven maybe a little less but figure about 50 percent longer to cook than normal.

Let it rest for 20 to 30 minutes and it is ready to serve.

My Thanksgiving turkey was done sous vide using this recipe. This was a shot at something a little crazy with a turkey I got on sale a week later.

I give it an 8 out of 10. It was as good as many turkeys I have had but maybe not as good as the best. It was by far the easiest I have ever made. Yes I would do it again.

One thing that I am sure helped is that the Butterball turkey is prepped for cooking.

"Contains up to 8% of a solution of Water, Salt, Spices, and Natural Flavor."

Some think this isn't a good thing but in this case where you are cooking a frozen turkey it helps because you can't do any of this before you put it in the oven.

I made simple gravy with the dripping using this Betty Crocker recipe.

This is pretty cool because for some reason people (including me) have an interest in ways to cook turkey.

On a more serious and useful note I think this "no prep" way to cook a frozen turkey could help people that cook a lot of food for a lot of people like churches, food banks, and soup kitchens.

Here is the guide I followed to do this at kitchn.com

How To Cook A Frozen Turkey

In a comment someone asked me to post a photo of the pan I used in the oven. They were wondering if it would hold all the drippings. I used a sheet with about a 1/2 inch rim around it. Then I put the turkey on a rack that held it up so the hot oven air could circulate around it.

I added a cup of water to that and it did fine holding all the drippings from the turkey. The water I added was gone by the end.

I think that the water from the frozen turkey turns to steam as it cooks and all of that helps keep things moist.

Instant Pot Turkey Stock and Hammers Turtilla Soup

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I made some stock with post Thanksgiving and post Thanksgiving leftovers with what was left of a turkey breast. The ingredients included onions, celery, garlic, and more. It spent 45 minutes under pressure in my Instant Pot and came out great. Find the recipe at DadCooksDinner.com

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Now that I had the stock I wanted to make Tortilla Soup. It is pretty easy to make and you can add things to it based on what you like. In my case the peppers didn't go in the soup but were added after it was done as not everybody wanted it spicy.

I used the recipe in Bob Warden's "Great Food Fast" a cookbook I really like for the Instant Pot. I like making his food and it is all well explained for pressure cooking. It took about 7 minutes under pressure.

This was very tasty. Éxito! 

On Facebook my friend Chuck Hammers said they did the same thing with the turkey leftover leftovers and they call it they call it "Turtilla Soup" so Hammers Turtilla Soup it is! :)

VIDEO: Cast Iron, Leftovers, Eggs, Blender Bottle

What to do with Thanksgiving leftovers? Enough of the sandwiches... :)

I like cooking with my cast iron and the Blender Bottle is a great way to make eggs.

Almond Dust Pork Roast

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Here is my pre-Thanksgiving dinner.

A few days ago I bought a pork loin. They are cheap cuts of meat but can dry out quick and need a little help with flavor.

I had some jars and bags of flavored almonds around and thought that the salt and sugar and flavors in the bottom of the containers should be used for something.

Enter the pork loin! I butterflied it open (I am not very good at that but it is pretty easy) then I added a mix of the almond flavor "dust" and some Bad Byron's But Rub. It is great stuff I like to use on bbq.

After that I rolled it back up and used butchers twine to tie it up. I am also not too good at that but this video is how I learned to do it. Real chefs and butchers do it so fast it is hard to see how it is done but this explains it well.

Flavored and tied I put the pork loin in the fridge for a day. I simply roasted it fat side up in the oven at 350 for about an hour. When the internal temp got to 140 I took it out and let it rest for 10 minutes.

It smelled great. There was a roasted nutty almond/bbq/pork smell filling the kitchen.

It sliced well and I used a couple of interesting sauces on the side. The Fat Cat Papaya Pequin Passion was new to me. It has a really interesting mix of flavors but isn't HOT hot. The 1st 4 ingredients are papaya, onion, pineapple, apple cider. It has pequin pepper for a little heat. It has a very Caribbean kind of flavor. A great pairing with the almond-y pork.

The Soy Vay Toasted Sesame was exactly what you might think it would be. I really like it and again it worked well with the pork loin.

 I paired it with Steelhead Vineyards 2012 Red a North Coast California red wine blend.

The final result was really good! I eat a lot of almonds and I'll keep a container to save all the almond dust for projects like this.

Instant Pot Chicken and (not) Dumplings

A low carb Chicken and (not) Dumplings meal in the Instant Pot.

It is mid September and the zucchini are still in the garden. They won't go away! I altered a Chicken and Dumplings recipe to take advantage of them and give me a flavorful low carb dinner in the Instant Pot. You can make it as chunky as you want. It is fun to play around with the flavors.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs cut in bite sized piece about like a tablespoon. Use more if you want up to about 3 pounds will work.

3 tablespoons of butter

salt and pepper

3 tablespoons of Riley's Red Rub it adds a ton of flavor and is the secret ingredient!

1 onion chopped up. Pick your favorite I like red. Make it 2 onions if you like.

4 or 5 cups of chicken broth. I use the chicken or vegetable Better Than Bouillon

3 to 6 ribs of celery chopped up in stew sized pieces.

2 teaspoons of dried thyme

2 bell peppers in different colors chopped

2 cups of zucchini chopped to a size like the chicken. Not peeled is ok just be sure to remove the seeds.

Instructions 

Set Instant Pot to Saute and add the butter. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. When the butter starts to brown a little add the chicken and brown it with the lid off for about 5 minutes.

When the chicken is browned add everything except the zucchini and bell peppers. Put on the cover and set the Instant Pot to Manual for 8 minutes on High (if you have that option)

When 8 minutes are up do a Quick Release. Open the lid and add the zucchini and bell peppers. Set the Instant Pot to Saute and let it cook for 5 to 10 minutes with the lid off.

Test the zucchini and when it as done as you like you are ready to eat!

You can add things to the individual bowl like parmesan cheese or hot sauce or in the photo above I added some sliced jalapeño peppers. Be creative or leave it alone.

This is pretty low carb with the zucchini replacing the dumplings and the bell peppers adding flavor the carrots and corn would traditionally have in a Chicken and Dumplings meal. If you aren't worried about carbs have some favorite crusty bread with your bowl.

If you want to make real Chicken and Dumplings leave out the zucchini and bell peppers. When the 1st part of the cook is over at 8 minutes and you do a Quick Release add a cup of corn kernels and use Bisquick to make some batter for the dumplings. Put the spoonfuls of Bisquick in the Instant Pot during the final step and let it cook on Saute with the lid off for about 10 minutes.

You can also finish by stirring in 1/2 a cup of milk.

Making beef stew for dinner on a Friday night

This is by far my favorite beef stew recipe I've ever made. Now understand I haven't made a lot so maybe that doesn't count as much as for some people.

It's actually a Vietnamese beef stew and some of the trickier ingredients include lemongrass, star anise, some Chinese five-spice and some other things that you can find at most large grocery stores around.

You can make it in a slow cooker or in a pot I made mine in my Instant Pot. It took 20 minutes of cooking time + little bit extra because when you add the carrots you cook them in the pan first and then you add them to the stew when it's done cooking and you kind of let it reduce and soften up the carrots to your liking.

Of course one of the great things about beef stew is you can also add ingredients that you like and to give it a little bit of a personalized twist.

I made some mushrooms at the very end and I put some scallions in the pan to cook down and put of that on top of the beef stew and it worked out really well. Give it a try I'll put the link down here below and also there's a video on how to make it.

recipe link
Vietnamese Beef Stew - Bò kho

video

Vietnamese Beef Stew - Bò kho

 

Helen's Recipes (Vietnamese Food)

The woman that does these is named Helen and she has a whole bunch of really great videos. This happens to be the one that I've tried. Some of the others might be kind of intimidating for me but you might want to give it a go. She's really good I really enjoyed the video and this beef stew always comes out extremely well serve with some sourdough bread or whatever you like on the side.

If you want to serve some wine you gotta have something big and bold. Don't be afraid to step it up a little bit there's a lot of flavors in this beef stew. I decided to reach for a bottle of Petite Sirah from Chateau Montelena in Calistoga. It's a 2010 and it's got a ton of flavor so it worked out really well. Just pick your favorite big red wine and enjoy the great meal.

My Favorite Cookbook

OK it changes often but I love the simple and easy to follow recipes in $10 Dinners

I recently made this honey orange chicken glazed chicken.

Delicious!