Instant pot electric pressure cooker recipes - Venn Pongal

Instant Pot Ultra (electric pressure cooker) is a new addition to my kitchen.  Hubby lovingly bought this for me during 'Thanksgiving'. I love it very much. It is very cute and 'smart'.
As a typical South Indian, I have been used to my whistles of  my 'prestige pressure cookers'.  I think most of us would have the same kind of childhood memories, with us all getting up by the whistles of our mom's pressure cooker or a milk cooker. But this electric pressure cooker won't make any such noises (even while we release the pressure manually). It has so many options like 'rice, beans, soup etc' . The best thing about this cooker is , one need not know much about 'cooking timings'. For example, in ordinary cooker one has to memorize 'how many whistles or how much minutes' to cook a dal or rice. . Here one need not know the pressure cooking timing for cooking anything, as everything is 'preset' or 'in its memory'. We can alter it temporarily if needed too.  Soon I will give a honest review and comparison of this electric cooker with ordinary pressure cooker. You are invited to join me in exploring many Indian recipes with Instant pot.

Ven pongal I made in the Instant pot electric pressure cooker.

To maximize the Kohl's cash offer....we stacked up a pyrex container set too :)

My 6 qt Instant pot ultra , 10 in 1, Programmable pressure cooker

Rice and dal

I set the time to 14 mins as this is a mixture of rice and moong dal.

We can latch the lid like this also.

Ven pongal with vadai and sambar.

Ingredients : (for 2 people)
Raw Rice (pacha arisi or briyani rice) - 3/4 cup
Moong dal (green gram dhal) - 1/4 cup  tbsp 
Ginger-1 inch piece (chopped)
salt - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Pepper corns -1 tsp
curry leaves - 1 sprig.
Asafoetida / hing -a pinch
clarified Butter/Ghee/ butter- 1 tbsp
Water- 3 cups (water = 2 times the number of cup of rice + 1 cup)
milk - 1/2 cup  
Cashews- 5 numbers.

Methods :
Rinse the rice and dal together. Add salt and water .
Keep it in a Instant pot pressure cooker. Plug in. The panel will start glowing. 
Select the rice option by rotating the control knob. Press it once to lock the setting.
Again rotate the knob to alter the time if needed. I set it to 14 minutes. But 10 minutes would be enough.
Set to high pressure. Press start.
It will go on preheating for few minutes. Then the pressure will start building and we can see it in the control panel.
The float valve will rise once it reached a whistling stage. But there won't be any whistle sound.
After the cooking is finished it will automatically switch off the pressure cooking and will begin to release pressure naturally. It may take 15 minutes to get the pressure released naturally. But we can manually release the pressure by carefully pressing the release valve.
After releasing the pressure open the lid and proceed with 'tadka' or tempering and garnish the pongal.

After cooking the rice and dhal tenderly, mash them mildly.(not like a paste, but gently.)
Heat a frying pan. Add the ghee.
Add Cumin , Ginger ,cashews, hing and whole pepper.
Immediately after the cashews turn golden in color, add them to pongal .
Serve hot.

Serving suggestions:
Serve hot with coconut cutney, Idly-sambar, ulunthu(black gram) vadai.
Serves 2 people.
It can be served as both breakfast or dinner.

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Here is a beautiful scene I clicked in my neighborhood Asian grocery store during Chinese New Year February 5 th 2019. Happy Chinese New year dear all !

Happy Chinese New Year : decorations in a nearby Asian grocery store.

Red banana (செவ்வாழைப்பழம் ) I bought from Asian store. mmm...tastes just like Indian red banana. 

Pongal Groceries !

Happy Pongal to all  !  This is the festival of all Tamilians.
As per some of my fans' request I am publishing this post 'grocery list for Pongal'.
Each and every family would have their own version to celebrate Pongal, but I have consolidated some important groceries to keep in mind for this day, so that we can check if we have them handy.
In my house , Pongal is mostly the convenient 'pressure cooker pongal' and we do it in a simple way with whatever veggies I buy (though almost all Indian groceries can be bought in NJ, so it is up to an individual choice only).  In my list I have not given measurements for certain items, as they are bought in bulk in most stores. But in my recipe link , one can find the cup measurements for those items.
Hope my list is handy enough !

Pongal Grocery list: (for 4 people + little extra for sharing)
Decorations :
Flowers, Pongal Poo (a bunch of Tamil native flowers)
Bunch of turmeric plant 2,
Sugarcane - as per need
palmyra sprout / tuber (panam kilangu) -few.
banana - a bunch
plantain leaf - a bunch
Rangoli powders

Sweet sarkarai Pongal: (simple version , rich version)
Raw rice - 1/2 kg
moong dhal - 100 gm
jaggery - 3/4 kg
ghee - 200 gm
cashew , raisin  - 50 gm as per need
cardamom - 5 pods
milk - 1/2 liter

Ven pongal:
Raw rice - 1/4 kg,
moong dal - 50 gm
pepper -
cumin -
ghee -
cashew - 10
milk - little

Aviyal :
Some shops in Tamilnadu sells this mixed aviyal vegetables in a heap for Rs 50, Rs 100.
Others can buy like the below list.
Raw green banana - 2 , brinjal - 4, drumstick -1 , white pumpkin - 100 gm, yellow pumpkin - 100 gm, carrot - 1, beans - 10 , broad beans - 10, string beans - 10, yam - 100 gm, potato - 1, arbi - 2, small green mango - 50 gm, shallot onion - 10, coconut - 1/2 , green chili - few, coconut oil - little
cumin, pepper , channa dal - little,

Pongal Puli curry:
Tamarind , coconut , sambar powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin , turmeric powder, shallot onion, tomato - 2 , karunai kilangu - 100 gm, senai kilangu - 100 gm. potato - 1, siru kilangu-5

Simple dal:
Toor dal - 150 gm,  green chili - 4, shallot - 3, garlic -1 , hing -  few , garnishing items like mustard, urid dal, chili.

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In Tamil :
பொங்கல் மளிகை லிஸ்ட் (for 4 people + some extra quantity to share) :
பூ , பொங்கல் பூ,   மஞ்சள் குலை , கரும்பு, பனங்கிழங்கு வேகவைத்தது , வாழைப்பழம், வாழை இலை , ரங்கோலி பொடி

சர்க்கரை பொங்கல் :
Sarkarai Pongal
Rich sarkarai pongal
பச்சரிசி , பாசிபருப்பு , வெல்லம் , நெய் , முந்திரி பருப்பு , உலர் திராட்சை , ஏலக்காய் , பால் , கண்டென்ஸ்ட் மில்க்  (தேவைக்கு)

வெண்பொங்கல் :
பச்சரிசி , பாசிப்பருப்பு , மிளகு , சீரகம், நெய், முந்திரி , பால்

பொங்கல் அவியல் :
வாழைக்காய் 2 , கத்தரிக்காய் 4, முருங்கைக்காய் 1, வெண்பூசணி 100 கி , மஞ்சள் பூசணி 100 கி , கேரட் 1, பீன்ஸ் 10, அவரைக்காய் 10 , கொத்தவரங்காய்  - 10, சேனைக்கிழங்கு 100 கி , உருளை கிழங்கு 1, சேப்பங்கிழங்கு 2,  சிறிய மாங்காய் -  1,  நாட்டு வெங்காயம்  10, தேங்காய் , மிளகாய், சீரகம், மிளகு, தேங்காய் எண்ணை, கடலை பருப்பு

பொங்கல் புளி கறி :
புளி , தேங்காய், சாம்பார் பொடி , மிளகாய் தூள் , மல்லி தூள் , சின்ன வெங்காயம், தக்காளி , சேனை கிழங்கு 100 கி  ,  கருணைக்கிழங்கு 1 , உருளைக்கிழங்கு 1 , சிறு கிழங்கு -  5

கெட்டி பருப்பு கூட்டு :
துவரம் பருப்பு - 150 gm, பச்சை மிளகாய் 4 , நாட்டு வெங்காயம் - 3, பூண்டு 1 , பெருங்காய தூள் சிறிது , உப்பு ,
தாளிக்க - கடுகு , உளுந்து

Happy New Year,

Merry Christmas

Wishing all a Merry Christmas !

Click to view my Christmas video. 

Christmas tree and Christmas village with Nativity scene in our house

Chicken briyani with fish fry for Christmas lunch

click to see my Fruit cake  recipe.

After baking first cake for this year Christmas 

Cake offering to Holy Family !

Santa 's visit 

Nativity scene I put together

Cake for Santa , fruits and veggies for Reindeers. ...on the Christmas eve.

Setting up Baby Jesus inside Nativity scene before going to Christmas mass.

My hubby's gifts to me : Corelle 6oz dessert bowl set and Pioneer Woman electric kettle ....wow , my favorites ! Love !

Christmas Tree and Nativity scene

Sweet n spicy Milagai bajji

Milagai - green chili (any variety) ; Bajji - pakora / fried spicy snack of India.

In USA , most us cannot get the real Indian bajji milagai (a bigger version of green chili without any hot chili taste, but smells like one). So we use Jalapeno peppers to prepare pakora / bajji.  Jalapenos are really HOT when compared to Indian bajji peppers.
Nowadays I am seeing these lesser spicy peppers - Cubanelle peppers, in the nearby Asian grocery store. So I prepared a sweet and hot bajji as a variation and we love it very much. My mom used to put some tomato ketchup inside the bajji milagai before dipping it in besan batter, as I was not a fan of spicy foods in my early ages. So I always crave for that sweet touch to spicy dishes till now.
Here I have used a 'Thai sweet chili sauce' instead of ketchup and in my view the chili flavor in that sauce enhances the taste of the bajji.

Try this and I am sure everyone will like it.

Ingredients : 
Non spicy long peppers (Bajji milagai) - 8
Besan flour (kadalai mavu) - 3/4 cup
dosa batter - 1/4 cup
(or) rice flour - 2 tbsp
salt - to taste
red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
hing (asafoetida)- 1/8 tsp
baking soda - 1/2 tsp
garlic - 2 pieces (finely ground)
ajwain (omam / bishop weed) - 1/4 tsp 

oil - to deep fry (250 ml)
Thai chili sauce - 1 tsp per chili

Cubanelle pepper tastes just like Indian Bajji milagai (not spicy).

Ingredients for bajji

I used Sweet chilli sauce from Asian store.

Remove seeds after slitting the pepper.

Apply a little sweet chilli sauce inside the peppers.

Dip them one by one in bajji batter

Fry them in medium heat, both sides.

Take out, drain oil by placing over a kitchen paper towel.

Fried capsicum bajji is ready ! Serve hot !

Cut them into 2 or 3 slices before serving (optional).

Method:

Chili:
Rinse the peppers. Slit the bottom of the pepper carefully (without cutting it in half) and remove all the seeds.  
Scoop a tsp of 'sweet chili sauce' inside the peppers.

Batter:
Grind the garlic and ajwain to a fine paste with 1 tsp water. Mix all the above (except oil, sauce) along with 1/4 cup water to a thick batter. Add more water if needed, but keep the batter like thick idly batter ,otherwise the bajjis will absorb more oil. 

Frying:
Heat oil in a wok. Before it gets smoky hot, reduce flame and keep in medium flame.

Dip the Chili peppers in the batter and put it on the hot oil.  Do not clutter. Flip and fry both sides. Drain oil and take out.

Sweet Milagai bajji / fritter is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Cut these big fried bajji into two or three pieces and serve (easy to bite).
Serve hot as snack along with hot coffee or tea during rainy / winter season.
Tomato ketchup is a good side dish

Note:
*It is always a good idea to make onion bajji or some other bajji along with capsicum bajji , for guests, as everyone can't accept the spiciest bajjis.
 *Instead of stuffing the bajji with 'Thai sweet chili sauce' before frying, we can scoop some after frying too. Thereby we can avoid soggy bajjis, if served after some time.
*The batter should be prepared fresh to avoid excess oil absorption (that means leaving it in room temperature will make it sour soon). Refrigeration for same day use is ok.

Enjoy my other bajjis also:) 
Sweet bajji
Vazhaikkai (plantain) bajji
Potato bajji
Cauliflower bajji
Onion bajji
Kathirikkai bajji
Check out my authentic milagai bajji recipe.

Happy Dussara !

Happy Pooja celebrations and Dussarah !

WOW ! I love this cute bouquet along with our indoor plants !

Our wedding anniversary:  My hubby's gifts for me : Carrot cake and flowers

multi color channa sundal

Sweet coconut Mothagam (using steamer basket)

kolukattai - Indian rice dumplings , usually stuffed with sweet stuffings. The kolukattai goes by the name of the stuffing inside. Jaggery (Indian brown sugar) mixed with either channa dal or shredded coconut or dry fruits or any other creative ingredient is called pooranam (core). The outer layer is made of one ingredient , the rice flour. But the outer layer preparation needs little more skill, experience and dedication (LOL).  After many experimentations I have found the fool-proof way to prepare the rice flour and that's nothing but the old way, and I have given it below.

The thengai kolukattai (coconut stuffing), is the most common and easy one.

I usually steam cook the kolukattai using a idli steaming vessel. But this time I used my rice cooker's steamer basket and got better results. The kolukattais steamed in an electric rice cooker are more softer, they could hold the shape very nicely (without cracks).  The uniform release of steam has made that possible, I guess.

Anyways try this and enjoy a yummy snack.

Kolukattai prepared using rice cooker's steam basket

Ingredients:
(For 15 mothagam)
Pooranam (sweet stuffing):
shredded coconut - 3/4 cup
besan flour - 2 tbsp (optional)
crushed jaggery - 3/4 cup
cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Outer layer for mothagam:
rice flour - 1 1/2 cup
water - 3 cup
salt - 1/2 tsp
coconut oil - 1 tbsp

Step 1. Outer layer:
Take the rice flour in a pan.
Dry roast it in a dry pan to loose all the moisture.
Add water, oil , salt to the flour so that it becomes like a thick dosa batter.
Now heat the mixture in very low flame and stir continuously, till we get a thick transparent rice dough.
Take off heat and let it cool.

Step 2: Pooranam preparation:
Shred a coconut and keep it handy (3/4 cup shredded coconut). I used frozen shredded coconut, which I had bought from Indian grocery store.
Add 1/4 cup water to the crushed jaggery and heat it, so that the jaggery dissolves completely. (I use soft North Indian style jaggery).
Using a strainer, filter the jaggery solution leaving behind the sediments.
Add the jaggery solution to the shredded coconut and start heating it with frequent stirring.
Stir the sweet mixture till it becomes manageable.
Add besan flour and cardamom. Stir till it becomes thick.
(Adding besan flour is optional, but it makes the job easy).
Sweet coconut Pooranam is ready.

Step 3:
Now take a small ball of rice dough, flatten it on an oiled / wet  plastic sheet.
Put one scoop of sweet pooranam over the rice disc. Fold and make it like a ball.  
(Fold it to semi circle shape if we are using a somas mould). 
Place it inside a kolukattai mold and press to get required shape.
Arrange them all inside the steamer basket (or idli plates if using idli vessel).

Step 4:
Using steamer basket for mothagam preparation:
Switch ON the rice cooker with 2 cups of water.
Set it to steam cooking mode. Place the steamer basket as per instruction.
Arrange the mothagams and cook in steam for 15 minutes.
Let cool for few minutes, take out and enjoy !

Coconut mothagam is ready!

Caramelized peach

If you love extremely quick processes, then this 'quick dessert' is going to be in your good books forever.

I made this for a simple dinner when our Amalraj anna visited us. Summer is the peach season after 'mango time' here. It comes around 99 cents/lb - $ 2.99 / lb  depending upon the store. I wanted to make some dessert with seasonal fruits on that day. So I bought some 3 medium size peaches from stop and shop. Preparation is the key to any dinner. So I had cut the fruit and kept it handy  in fridge and started cooking while serving the dinner.  I made this in low heat in my cast iron skillet (which is my new favorite toy) . I got it from camping section of Walmart (3 various sized skillet set for $9 in their roll back savings offer price). I felt very happy to see how much anna love it. The hot caramelized peach served with homemade mango ice cream and store bought hagen dazs caramel ice cream became the center of attraction on that day.  

Saute' the peach slices in butter.

Cooking the peach slices with butter , brown sugar, cinnamon powder.

Cook in low heat till caramelized (say 10 mins).

My lil menu planning board 

Mint Lemon juice, onion uthappam, coconut chutney, sambar, Poori, kilangu, caramel peach with icecream.

Caramelized peach with mango ice cream and hagen dazs caramel ice cream.

Ingredients:

Peach (ripe) - 2

Brown sugar - 4 tbsp

butter - 2 tbsp

cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Wash and slice the peaches into long wedges.

Discard the seed.

Heat butter in a thick bottom skillet or vessel.

Arrange all the peach pieces and cook for 5 minutes in low heat.

Turn over. Spread the brown sugar, cinnamon powder and cook till the sugar gets caramelized (flavorful and brown color). 

Caramelized peach is ready !

Serving suggestion:

Serve HOT along with any ice cream of your choice.

Note:

This dessert can be traditionally prepared in oven too. But the above said method is quicker.