Topic: I may never make base gravy again

[Peripatetic Phil]

It sounds as if yours and mine are somewhat similar in functionality, Livo.  Odd that in both the length of the sear/sauté programme is fixed — what do the manufacturers gain by this, I wonder.  Incidentally, in mine "slow cook" defaults to four hours without pressure, but can be set to anything from 30 minutes to 20 hours  (other "without pressure" programmes are "yoghurt" and "sear/sauté).  Robbo, what did you mean by "I just use manual no set" ?
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** Phil.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Incidentally, if anyone else is new at "Instant Pot"-style cookery, there is an excellent selection of relevant cookery (e-)books here.

[Robbo141]

Sorry Phil, typo.  I meant to say use manual and set for a given time.  To pressure cook with the Instant Pot, I just press the Manual button, then set time for 10 mins.  It comes to pressure, then automatically switches off after the set time and then the timer starts counting up from zero, so you can see how many mins it has been sitting, in case the recipe specifies to wait a certain time before manually releasing pressure.

 I was given a paperback cookbook which is where I originally found the butter chicken lady, as she is known.  Of course, all the recipes are online now, but it’s still been a useful collection.

https://www.amazon.com/Indian-Instant-Pot®-Cookbook-Traditional/dp/1939754542

Tonight I will be winging it again, this time using a can of crushed tomatoes instead of diced and see if that eliminates the need to blend.

PS: it makes perfect soft boiled eggs too.

Robbo

[foureyes1941]

Phil, I couldn't open that link, it appears there's some high court judgement on it along with others -http://www.ukispcourtorders.co.uk/

[Peripatetic Phil]

That may well be your ISP, Anita.  I will create a local copy of the page and send you a Dropbox link which should keep your ISP happy. 
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** Phil.

[livo]

All in all a successful quick dinner in 30 minutes. 

I was in need of a fast meal for 5 and had 3 large chicken breasts requiring use, so I gave this a try.  I followed the linked Butter Chicken recipe quantities as given with the addition of a big spoonful of Patak's commercial Butter Chicken Paste and a half cup of water as I had nearly 1 kg of breast fillet (almost double).  It did produce a nice easy curry and the preparation was nearly nothing so there is benefit there.  Nobody complained about eating it.  I guess it is an American influenced recipe as it uses Cayenne Pepper which I substituted for more Indian Kashmiri Chilli Powder.

My only issues were the texture of the chicken and looseness of the sauce. I don't usually cook chicken under pressure and the reason was clear again. The chicken chunks began to break down in texture and some pieces would literally shred when stirring in the last stages.  Easily remedied next time by doing the sauce for a few minutes on saute before adding the chicken and then do less time under pressure.   Chicken thigh fillet would probably be less prone to breaking up. 

The sauce was a bit thin for my liking so I added a TBSP of corn flour / cold water slurry to thicken it up a little right at the end.  This may have been my fault as upon reading the whole blurb, I did notice that there are suggestions in avoiding loose sauce and also the fact that only half the sauce is meant to be kept in the finished dish.  I did neither of these.  I just did a one pot cook with everything in on curry setting for 15 minutes with slow release for 10.  Possibly over-cooked it but it worked OK.

The method in itself shows a lot of potential and the dish was enjoyable served with boiled Golden Basmati rice, steamed veggies and a few Parathas.

A lot of potential here Robbo.

Edit: I shouldn't have added the half cup of water.  Pressure cooking in a sealed vessel requires minimal liquid.  Note for next time.

[Robbo141]

Good to see Livo.  It very much is something that can be tinkered with and still get pretty good results.  I’ve had similar experiences as you mentioned.

1. Chicken
I now just dump in a pack of skinless, boneless thighs whole.  Much less fall-apart and no need to chop raw chicken, so less clean up.

2. Consistency
I found that switching to canned crushed tomatoes instead of diced gives a much better result and no need for blending.   Just this week I tried rinsing out the can of tomatoes with 1 cup of water and adding to the pot but that made for a very thin result, so I ended up blending.

3. Cayenne
Agreed. I use 0.5 tsp extra hot chilli powder and 0.5tsp Kashmiri.  Much better. I also find adding 5 or 6 thai chillies, sliced lengthwise after the pressure cook work very well, although not when cooking for the missis.

All in all though, as a simple technique to get a decent curry out, I’m finding this a great basis for experimenting.  Glad you had a positive outcome.  More to follow.

Robbo

[livo]

I had placed the small amount of leftover curry and rice in a microwave container in the fridge.  I ate it for lunch yesterday and I really appreciated that it was indeed a nice tasty dish.  The tomato, butter and kasoori methi had combined to give that familiar flavour combination.  The method is certainly a lot easier (and much faster) than making a Makhani Gravy and real Murgh Makhani.

[Robbo141]

Next day leftovers for lunch for me have rapidly gone from lunchtime to elevenses to near tenses these days. I always have rice left over and frying up a couple Thai chillies, a little onion, ginger and garlic then throwing in an egg before adding the rice (to which I already added a little Tamari) is the perfect breakfast.  Splash a little fish sauce and I could be in Bangkok again.

As I write, the Instant Pot is doing its thing to make dinner for tonight. Adding fresh spinach after the pressure cook stage for a saag type dish. Serving with these amazing frozen naan breads we found in Trader Joe’s. Seriously good naan bread, straight from the freezer.

Keep calm and cook curry everyone.  Spring is almost here and I’ll be outdoors on the grill doing BIR before you know it.

Robbo

[livo]

What brand are the naan Robbo? I have had good experience with Haldirams frozen naan.

I've bought some thigh fillet yesterday so I'm going to experiment with a one pot Balti / Mild Curry.  I'll have a look at the recent Balti Base Gravy thread (Kushi) to see what's in it and then work out how to scale down and cook in one go.  It will be interesting to see how it turns out.  I may also include some of my home made balti paste and a bit of Rik's mild curry paste if applicable in lieu of spices.