I got an instant pot! I’ve been using pressure cookers for 30 years, but this is so much easier. Plus, it doubles as a slow cooker. It’s allowed me to make easy weeknight meals I never would have considered because of time constraints. There is no way I would have made anything that needed to cook for 3 hours, on a Tuesday night after working all day.
The other day I made shredded chicken for tacos in about half an hour. HALF AN HOUR! They were so good too! The instant post really helps keep the flavors in the meat instead of escaping in the steam.
I bought the 6-quart Instant Pot Lux 1000W Electric Pressure Cooker. It’s been more than sufficient. I haven’t used the slow cooker feature yet, but I will more than likely use this instead of my crock pot because I’ve set it up on my stove and use it almost daily.
One of the first things I made in this thing was sticky rice. I know it seems like a silly first thing to make and I don’t have trouble making other types of rice, but for some reason, sticky rice never comes out exactly the way I want it too. I’m not talking about sushi rice made for sushi, with all the fanning and such. I’m talking about the plain sticky rice that you get with saucy Asian dishes that balances them out.
There was no messing around. I added nothing to the pot but rice and water and it came out perfect. This is how I did it…
Instant Pot Sticky Rice
- I put 1 dry cup measure of sushi rice and 1 dry cup measure of cold water from the tap into the pot and gave it a little stir.
- I set the pot to manual pressure (max pressure for my machine) and cooked the rice for 5 minutes, then I did a natural release for 10 minutes before releasing the rest of the steam manually.
- I gave the rice a gentle fluff with a wooden spoon (my model came with a plastic rice paddle but I probably won’t use it) and then scooped it out into serving bowls with a large ice cream scooper.
The next time I made this I added a teaspoon of rice vinegar. Other than that, I’ve been making it just like this every time.
For long grain white rice, white jasmine or white basmati rice, I rinse the rice well under cold water and then drain out as much of the water as I can. I use a 1:1 ratio just like with the sushi rice (measured before rinsing), but I cook it for just 4 minutes and add nothing to the pot before cooking it. I add a little butter and salt to the cooked rice before serving, depending on what I am serving it with. It’s come out perfect every time. I haven’t tried brown rice in it, yet.
