Tuesday, September 23, 2014

How to Use a Pressure Cooker: Curry in a Hurry

August and September are such pivotal months. The kids go back to school, so your schedule completely changes. Football season starts. The weather cools. Christmas decorations go up at the stores…..GAHHHHH! ....PANIC!

It just seems like a downhill, whirlwind slide into December from here.

Fortunately, this is the best time to whip out your pressure cooker to help make your schedule a little less stressful. Pressure cooking can take a slow-cooked main course that would normally take hours to cook on a Sunday afternoon, to being able to cook the same meal in under an hour during the workweek. Slow-cooked dishes like soups, stews, pot roasts, bean dishes, chili, sauces, you name it, can be all be prepared during the week with a pressure cooker. In addition, the cold, dark fall and winter evenings simply beg for a hearty slow-cooked meal.

Today, I am making Curry in a Hurry from Lorna Sass’ book Pressure Perfect. I mentioned before that if you are looking for a good pressure cooking cookbook, this is it. As mentioned in this recipe’s description, it’s almost too easy and too good to be true, so let’s warm up with some curry shall we?



NOTE: I am using boneless, skinless chicken thighs for this recipe; however, Lorna says you can substitute for 3 lbs of bone-in, skinless chicken thighs, OR 2 lbs of boneless pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces, OR 2 lbs boneless beef chuck, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces, OR 2 lbs of boneless lamb shoulder, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces.

Pressure Cooker Curry in a Hurry
Recipe Source: Modified from Pressure Perfect

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup of water OR coconut milk (for flavor) OR half water/half coconut milk
4 T of Patak’s Mild (or hot) Curry Paste (curry powder does not produce the same results)
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup of cornstarch
1 cup plain yogurt (regular, low-fat, or even sour cream)
1 ½ cups frozen peas
3 T chopped, fresh cilantro
Salt

Pour the water or coconut milk into a 4-quart or larger cooker and blend in the curry paste. Set over high heat and add the onion and chicken. Lock the lid in place, set the heat to high, and bring your cooker to pressure. When at pressure, lower the heat to med/low, and time to cook for 8-10 minutes (for lamb 12 minutes). After cooking for 8-10 minutes, move the cooker to a cool burner and allow the cooker to depressurize naturally for 4 minutes, then do a manual pressure release (if using other kinds of meat, allow to depressurize completely. Do not do a manual release).

Remove the lid, tilting it away from you to allow steam to escape. Place cooker back on a burner and bring to a low simmer. If necessary, skim off any fat that rises to the surface. Blend the cornstarch and yogurt into 1 cup of the broth, and then add to the meat in the cooker (Note: avoid cooking yogurt under pressure as it tends to sink to the bottom of the cooker and scorch). Stir until thickened. Add the peas to the meat and simmer for 1 minute. Stir in the cilantro and salt to taste.

Serve with cooked, jasmine rice.



Additions/Variations:

  • Add 1/3 cup raisins after pressure release; add when adding yogurt
  • Garnish with raw or roasted cashews
  • Toast one or more of the following spices and stir into the curry with the yogurt:  1 T black mustard seeds, 1 tsp whole fennel seeds, and 1 tsp of whole cumin seeds. 
  • Vegetarian version: Scrub or peel 1 ½ lbs of potatoes and cut into 2 inch chunks. Prepare in the same manner except there is no need to allow time for natural depressurization; you may depressurize manually.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Chocolate Raspberry Jam!

What can I say about this jam other than it will change your life? Imagine the pure, tart sweetness of fresh raspberries combined in a love fest of melted, bittersweet chocolate. Now take that image and smear it all over your naked body and let Ryan Gosling slowly lick it off. Got it? You’re welcome.

THAT’S what this jam will do for you!



This recipe is the love child creation from the fairy Godmother of canning, Christine Ferber and Mes Confitures, and another recipe that I’ve had for a long time. Christine Ferber’s canning recipes usually involve a 2-step process of letting the fruit and sugar macerate overnight, which greatly improves any true, bring-to-gel jam or jelly recipe, but I didn’t want to go that route with this recipe. 

Her Raspberries with Chocolate recipe also calls for processing the berries through a food mill to get rid of the seeds, which believe me, is an AWESOME way to go, but I also happen to like the seeds and doing so would also require way more raspberries to make up the bulk. So, what I really took from Christine’s recipe to make this orgasm-inducing jam is the chocolate.

Ah, yes. The chocolate.

My old recipe called for mere 3-ounces of chocolate, which was barely detectible; however, Christine calls for a healthy 9-ounces.  And besides, more chocolate is always better!

Now, where is Ryan Gosling?

Kathy’s Chocolate Raspberry Jam
Makes 6, half-pints

6 cups frozen raspberries, crushed or 7 pints fresh raspberries (I used frozen that we picked)
*¾ cup of semi-sweet chocolate or bittersweet chocolate chips, ground in a food processor
4 cups of sugar
1 box powdered pectin
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon butter

Note: Process the chocolate chips to where the chips resemble a rough ground powder.

Place raspberries, pectin, lemon juice, and butter in a heavy, non-reactive saucepan and bring to a full, rolling boil. Add sugar all at once; bring back to a full, rolling boil and boil for exactly 1 minute. Remove from heat and add ground chocolate; stir well to combine. Skim any foam if necessary.

Ladle jam into prepared jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace, and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. 

Monday, September 08, 2014

Bean Pickin' Time

The tomatoes are done! I finished with about 8 pints of Green Salsa Verde made from all the green toms leftover.

My canning label software has been out of commission for the past couple of months, as it was residing on my old PC and not my laptop, and so I haven't been able to label all these quarts and pints of tomato products in my basement. It doesn't take long for everything to start to look the same, and it was a command decision to get my label software reloaded when what we thought was a pint of salsa spooned over nachos (football season!!!) turned out to be Chunky Basil Pasta Sauce.

Total buzzkill.



Now, my bush beans are coming in and for these babies, I simply wash, snap off the ends, snap into pieces, and then blanch/freeze for quart freezer bags. Every year, there is a discussion on the Harvest Forum on whether to freeze or pressure can beans and it's always a tie. Some people say the only way is to freeze, and some say that pressure canning is the best. Meh.

I'm with the former, as pressure canning beans results in taste and texture that is exactly like the canned green beans you would buy from the store. My thought is, "If I wanted canned green beans, I would buy them!" At least when I freeze green beans, I have some control over whether to cook the snot out of them or not. Which usually I do anyway, but sometimes I'll under cook them a little if they are going into a casserole or soup.

Happy Fall Ya'll!

 

design + development by kelly christine studio