Cooking Kidney Beans in the Instant Pot

Why bother?  Cans are available?  

Simple, I use beans, Black Beans as well for myself, Kidney Beans in the Dog's Food at a rate of two cans a week.
 
Each can runs between $2 and $3 each.  They're prepared with Salt sometimes as a preservative. 

A bag of dry beans runs $8, and will make about 12 cans worth, minimum.  You do the math.  Plus Dry Beans keep for at least a year. 

Mind you, I am not like that grandma you hear about making beans all Sunday.  I use an Instant Pot or a Crock Pot Express and it makes a batch in about 45 minutes.  Both are pressure cookers and this is an awesome use for the "gadget".

Ingredients: It is a simple ratio:

3 parts water
1 part dry beans
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.

My pressure cookers will comfortably cook 4 cups beans/12 cups water and yield just under 5 cans worth at 425g or 15 ounces per batch.  It's making Black Beans right now!

Process: High Pressure for 30 minutes, then release the pressure manually.

Result: is Kidney Beans that will be cooked tender, if a bit too tender.  The "Beans Button" will give you 20 minutes.  I always increase it to around 35 minutes as the beans I need have to be mashed in to a paste for the Dog Food recipe.  If you want a firmer bean, cook them for less time. 

Black Beans are similar, however other types require less time.  Lentils will cook in about 4 minutes under pressure, Black Beans in 35 minutes. 

As for the Black Beans?  Add 3.5 ounces (100g) to a bowl, warm them, add onion to taste, 2 ounces/56g of your favorite salsa, a wee bit of hot sauce, heat the mix up, mash them all up and have them on a soft tortilla.  I always add 2 ounces of sharp cheese to the mix and serve with 3 tortillas. 

There, Dinner is sorted!

Char Siu Pork in the Crockpot Express or Instant Pot

I was out for a walk and there was a Crockpot Express sitting in front of the apartments with the
"Free To A Good Home" sign on it.

Yoink.  It had never been used.

So while sitting here thinking of what to write about, I realized I had some Pork Loin sitting in the refrigerator begging for attention.

General Instructions for Pork.

That is what you are reading here.  It's a modification of the recipe I had written years ago.  You see, cooking in a CrockPot Express or Instant Pot is really simple.   It has to be wet.  The Spices can be assembled ahead of time.  It loves marinade.  And take the time to Brown or Saute the meat, the extra flavor is why it is worth it!

But it is really all about the time under pressure and how long you leave it for natural release after the cook time is done.

Pork Shoulder recipes were 20 minutes under pressure, 10 minute natural release.

Sear your meat, fat side down until the fat looks cooked with a little oil.  I seared the outside of the entire piece of pork.

Remove the meat, pour in your liquid, and start the recipe.

Marinade  Add to a bowl, whisk until mixed.

• 1/2 cup Hoisin sauce
• 1/2 cup Brandy, Rum, or Whiskey
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons or 1 Ounce of Dark Sesame Oil
• 2 Tablespoons or 1 Ounce of Hot Sauce.  Sauces such as Thai Chili, Srirarcha, Tabasco... TO TASTE!  This time it was a bit on the hot side for me personally, I'll cut it down by half next time
  
• 2 Tablespoons fresh Ginger - Or 2 Teaspoons powdered Ginger
  
• 2 teaspoons Five Spice Powder
• 2 Tablespoons Onion Powder (NOT salt)
• 2 teaspoons red food coloring - optional

Plus 2-4 pounds of Pork Shoulder or Pork Loin

Process

1. Heat the Crockpot Express on Saute.
2. When the Oil warms to shimmer add your Pork fat side down.
3. Move the Pork around until the fat begins to render and turn translucent.
4. Repeat until the meat begins to brown on each side.
5. Remove the meat and set aside.
6. Turn off the Saute/Brown cycle.
   
7. Add the marinade to the bottom and deglaze the pot.
8. Then add the meat back to the pot turning it so the marinade gets to all sides of the meat.
9. Seal the pot and cook for 20 minutes with at least 10 minutes for Natural Release.  If you are going to shred the meat, you will want to increase the cook time.
   
10. Reduce the sauce that is left in the pot to the desired consistency and serve as needed.
    

Conclusion

Oh yeah that's the ticket!  The pork was tender, moist, and had a great flavor to it.  I reduced the sauce to a Barbecue Sauce/Catsup consistency after removing the pork and put some on the rice and pork I had for lunch.  It was good but was more spicy than I prefer.  Next time I do this, and I most certainly will, I will cut the hot sauce to 1 Tablespoon or less.

Again, since this was Char Siu (Chinese Barbecue) and not Pulled Pork, I served slices on a bed of rice.   If I were to want this to be Pulled Pork, I would increase the cook time to around 30 minutes for starters and see where it is for next time.  As it was this was an incredible meal for me and Rack the McNab SuperDog (TM)!

Instant Pot Refried Beans Are Pretty Darn Good

A recipe so good and so easy that I am writing it before I forget what I did.

The resulting recipe using Olive Oil is Vegan, but don't let that scare you, I served mine with some grated cheese on top in the Mexican Style.  It's a mild dish, and I am estimating that it's about 150 calories per serving cooked with Olive Oil, More if the spices and onion are cooked with animal fats which is more traditional.

Personally I recommend making this recipe with double the spices and onions.  I found it as written bland and not authentic.  Doubling it was much closer to what I expected from my favorite Mexican Restaurant.

Finally, I used a potato masher to get the texture right but these beans were creamy like a good yogurt when I was through.

Soaking them in Baking Soda really is necessary, if not required!   It also drastically reduces the gas you get when you soak them in Baking Soda. 

So here's what to do with all those beans you impulse bought to help you through any emergencies!

Ingredient list:

• Dry Pinto Beans - 8 oz/1/2 pound/225 grams
• Water - 3 cups for soaking plus about 3 cups for the Instant pot.
• Baking Soda - 1/2 teaspoon once for the soak, once for the Instant pot.  It makes your beans extra silky soft.
• Oil or Fat for cooking - Bacon Grease, Lard,  or other rendered fats are traditional.  I used a deeply green Olive Oil because I just didn't want that many calories added back to a light side dish.
• Onion - 1/4 to 1/2 Minced Fine
• Garlic - 1-2 cloves Minced Fine
• Cumin - 1/2 teaspoon
• Oregano - 1 Sprig or 1 teaspoon dry.

First, soak your beans: Yes, the night before.  Do it, you will be thankful.  This will give you creamy beans that will seem to melt as you prepare them.

• For 8 ounces/ 1 cup dry/ 225g of pinto beans, add them to a large bowl with 3 cups of water.
• Add 1/2 teaspoon of Baking Soda and swirl the water around.
• Cover the bowl and ignore overnight.  
• I waited 12 hours.

Second - Cook your beans in the instant pot:

• Drain the beans - you will notice that the water is brown and somewhat syrupy.
• Rinse the beans thoroughly.  I gave mine three passes through the water until clear.
• Drain the beans again.
• Add beans to the Instant pot.
• Add enough water to cover the beans plus at least a thumbnail extra over top.
• Close and seal the Instant Pot.
• Cook on the Beans Button or 6-8 minutes plus Natural Release.

Third - Prepare your spice mixture:

• 1/4 onion diced quite small.
• 1-2 cloves of garlic to taste.
• 1/2 teaspoon dry Oregano or 1 sprig fresh.
• 1 Bay Leaf.
• 1/4 teaspoon Cumin.
• Salt to taste.

Fourth - After Natural Release, Cook your Spice Mix

• Drain the Instant Pot of the water.
• Remove the Beans and set them aside.
• Add your oil or fat to the bottom of the Instant Pot.
• Turn the Instant Pot to Saute and allow it to warm the oil to cooking temp (shimmering).
• Add the Spice Mixture and Onions to the pot.
• Cook the Onions well until they become clear to translucent.

Finally add the beans to the instant pot and stir.  At this point the beans will be very tender.  I did not need a mixer to get the proper silky texture to my Refried Beans.  Authentic Refried Beans do tend to have some unbroken beans in the mix.  If you are unsatisfied with the smoothness, blast it with a stick blender or potato masher until you are.

Made with Olive Oil, this should be well under 200 calories per serving for a quarter of the batch with a healthy portion of cheese on top.  Your Mileage May Vary!