Writing With My Mouth Full

I might have overwhelmed Ali at the new Yemeni store in my neighborhood because I had specific instructions on how I wanted the lamb shank I was buying cut. He’s used to roasting the entire leg of lamb, not slicing it in large pieces. I told him I was making a tagine with dates, and he finally understood that an entire leg of lamb won’t fit in my pot. He then started rapping with me about North African food and his English-Yemeni roots, and I now have a new friend who will give me a call when fresh oxtails come in in his store.

It is important you trim off the excess fat from the lamb shanks before you try this recipe. With the butter and the cooking in high pressure, my lamb was swimming in fat when it was done. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course, but your guests may be turned off if there’s too much of the good stuff. When you serve the leftovers the next day–yes, there will be leftovers–you can skim the coagulated fat from the top of the sauce before you heat it up.

I loved the red potatoes here because they lent the dish a hearty solid. While the lamb meat was falling off the bone, the large potato chunks were perfectly tender to smash into the couscous with a fork.

Cook your couscous with golden raisins and the sweetness will be a nice addition to the buttery lamb.

Ingredients:
lamb shank, most of the fat trimmed, cut in 2 large pieces to fit the pot, about 4 pounds
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp ginger, grated
1 tbsp paprika
2 tsps cumin, ground
2 tbsps butter
1 large onion, sliced
small pinch saffron
1 tbsp tomato paste
3 red potatoes, quartered
1 short piece cinnamon stick
2 tsps ginger powder
1/2 cup chopped dates
a handful of parsley, finely chopped
salt, pepper

1. Season lamb shanks generously with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, combine garlic, fresh ginger, paprika and cumin, and rub all over shanks. Leave shanks at room temperature to season for at least an hour.
2. Using the sauté function of your Instant Pot, melt butter. Add onion, saffron, and sprinkle with salt. Cook for 5 minutes, until onions are soft. Stir in tomato paste and cook 1 minute. Add seasoned shanks and let cook with onions, turning occasionally, until meat and onions are lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
3. Add potatoes, cinnamon stick, ginger powder, chopped dates and water to barely cover to the pot. Cover and lock the lid properly. Select the Pressure Cook function for 30 minutes. When it’s done, do a quick release after venting and letting the steam out. Stir in parsley and serve with couscous.

Related post/s:
I have the Instant Pot DUO60 6 Quart, but this is a similar model, just pricier!

I couldn’t track as to why the original recipe is called Hawaiian oxtail soup. I gather it’s because it has a combination of different Asian flavors that can’t be defined as coming from one country. I liked that; it’s a mutt of a soup!

I love the base broth of this recipe. It reminded me of a Taiwanese stew that uses star anise and dried tangerine peels. If you cook enough Asian food, it’s worth drying some tangerine peels when you buy and eat the fruit—they keep for a long time in a sealed jar. If you don’t have them dried, feel free to use fresh ones, just make sure you remove most of the pith.

The dried shiitakes remind me of Japanese-style hot pot, while the fish sauce, the lime, and cilantro give it a Vietnamese flavor. And perhaps the ginger is a nod to Shanghai.

Look how pretty everything was before I pressurized it. The oxtail gave this soup the body it needed, so I only strained it haphazardly. I figured that the bitterness of the mustard greens will hold off a lot of the fat back and I was right. You can use Swiss chard too, and in a pinch, spinach. After all, mutts are forgiving.

Ingredients:
5 dried shiitake mushrooms
2 lbs oxtails
a small knob ginger, peeled, sliced
4 whole star anise
dried tangerine peel
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
4 cups chicken broth
oil, salt

For soup assembly:
1 lb mustard greens, coarsely chopped
fish sauce
a small knob ginger, peeled, sliced into matchsticks
a handful of cilantro, roughly chopped
2 scallions, chopped
red chile flakes
lime wedges
salt

1. Soak the shiitake mushrooms in a small bowl filled with hot water. Set aside.
2. Using the sauté function of your Instant Pot, add oil and sear the oxtails until evenly browned on all sides. Then add the rest of the soup broth ingredients, plus the shiitakes and water. Add a little more water just to make sure the oxtails are somewhat submerged.
3. Cover and lock the lid properly. Select the Pressure Cook function for 45 minutes. When it’s done, do a quick release after venting and letting the steam out.
4. Using a spider strainer or a slotted spoon, remove all the solids into a large bowl, and strain the broth into another. Return the strained broth to the Instant Pot and turn on the sauté function again. Add the mustard greens and cook for a minute and season the broth with a jigger or two of fish sauce.
5. To serve, divide the oxtails into your soup bowls, and discard the remaining ingredients. Ladle in the seasoned broth into each and garnish with ginger, cilantro, scallions, red chile flakes, lime, and sprinkle with salt.

Related post/s:
I knew I would use those tangerine peels again, so I dried my own
One of my favorite tools in the kitchen is my spider strainer
I have the Instant Pot DUO60 6 Quart but this is a similar model, just pricier!

For my second Instant Pot test, I stayed with Melissa Clark’s book and chose one of her beef recipes. To me, getting the Instant Pot was to save time, so I wasn’t about to spend 24 hours marinating the beef ribs like I normally would if I mean to braised them. I stopped by Whole Foods after Sunday brunch to buy $25 worth of beef short ribs, rubbed them with the ground coriander and salt and pepper, and just let them sit while I walked Atticus for a few minutes. I started working on the recipe as soon as we returned from our walk.

It turned out deliciously. I give the Instant Pot high marks on sustaining the flavor. From my experience with a slow cooker, the flavor would always just be on the outside, but inside the meat, it was almost non-existent even if I browned them beforehand. It took only 35 minutes to high pressurize these beef ribs and the depth of flavor was in there as if I actually braised it for 2 hours. So guess who’s becoming more of a fan now?

Ingredients:
6 bone-in beef short ribs
1 leek, white part only, chopped
2 fennel bulbs, chopped
1/2 cup pitted prunes, chopped
1 cup dry red wine
1 tbsp tomato paste
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp coriander seeds, grounded
red pepper chile flakes
oil
salt, pepper

1. Rub coriander, salt, and pepper all over the beef ribs and let sit at room temperature for a few minutes up to 1 hour.
2. Using the sauté function of your Instant Pot, add oil and sear the beef until evenly browned on all sides, about 2 minutes per side. Remove to a plate.
3. Add leeks and fennel, and cook until soft, about 8 minutes, then add garlic, chile powder, and tomato paste; cook for 2 minutes.
4. Pour in wine. Add prunes and then add beef pieces back. Cover and lock the lid properly. Select the Pressure Cook function for 35 minutes. When it’s done, do a quick release after venting and letting the steam out. Serve on top of a big pasta, like pappardelle.

Related post/s:
Join the bandwagon and get your own Instant Pot already!
Buy Melissa Clark’s Dinner in an Instant: 75 Modern Recipes for Your Pressure Cooker, Multicooker, and Instant Pot

I finally fell prey to the most talked about kitchen gadget today: the Instant Pot. God knows that I don’t need any more kitchen-anything, but I received a Williams-Sonoma gift certificate for my birthday and there was nothing else I wanted to spend it on other than something I was curious about but did not want to pay for with my own money. Game over.

This recipe is from Melissa Clark’s Dinner in an Instant with some of my adjustments. I didn’t want to buy coconut oil, so I skipped that here. I also didn’t get enough tomato pulp after grating 3 large ones and that resulted in the “burn” display on the pot. I had to add some broth to liquify it so I have substituted chopped tomatoes for you to avoid making the same mistake.

For my first Instant Pot experience, I would give it high marks. I timed my entire process and I was “cooking” for exactly an hour. Now, you still have to use some cooking chops and common sense to repair a dish that burns; no gadget can tell you that because that’s all instinct you learn from years of cooking the basics. You still have to chop your ingredients and sauté aromatics. What the Instant Pot did for me is cook the chicken in the shortest time possible without the scary whistling sound that I grew up with in my parents’ kitchen.

It was quiet and smooth-sailing after I went through the Getting Started tips recommended in the manual. I would have made this dish stove-top any other day, but it would have taken an extra hour to simmer and make sure the chicken pieces were cooked through. The Instant Pot did not sacrifice the depth of flavor, one important thing that I don’t like about regular slow cookers. The stewing broth that came out in the end was just as flavorful as if I braised it in my Dutch oven.

Ingredients:
2 lbs skinless and boneless chicken thighs, cut into pieces
1 can of coconut milk
1 medium-sized can of chopped tomatoes
3 tbsps ghee
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
a small knob of ginger, peeled, minced
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp cardamom, ground
2 tsps coriander, ground
1 tbsp turmeric
red pepper flakes
1 tsp curry powder
a handful of frozen peas, thawed
a handful of cilantro, roughly chopped
salt, pepper

1. Using the sauté function of your Instant Pot, heat the ghee. Stir in the onions and cook until they are caramelized, about 12 minutes. Stir in the garlic, ginger, and cumin seeds for 2 minutes. Stir in the cinnamon and cardamom and cook for another minute. Then add the coriander, turmeric, curry powder, and red pepper flakes. Add the chopped tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.
2. Add the chicken pieces to the sauce, and then cover and lock the lid properly. Select the Pressure Cook function for 4 minutes. When it’s done, do a quick release after venting and letting the steam out.
3. Select the sauté function again and stir in the coconut milk, just enough for the consistency that you want. You don’t want the sauce to be too thick, nor for it to be too soupy. Add the green peas and the cilantro for color and keep stirring for another 2 minutes until the peas are warm and for the flavors to meld. Serve with rice.

Related post/s:
Join the bandwagon and get your own Instant Pot already!
Buy Melissa Clark’s Dinner in an Instant: 75 Modern Recipes for Your Pressure Cooker, Multicooker, and Instant Pot