Pressure Cooker Beef Masala Curry (Whole 30)

Guys, I am in trouble.  Not a little bit of trouble, but a big heaping boat load of trouble.  I don’t know what to do about it.  There is a new little store about a block from my apartment that has a ton of  Hull brown drip dishware for sale.  I don’t know if you remember, last year I got a big box of Pfaltzgraff and Hull brown drip dishware for helping a friend move. I absolutely love it.  It is gorgeous and I want more of it.  Yesterday, I  bought a small pitcher, 3 oval plates, a butter dish, and a divided casserole.  My problem is how am I going to stay out of this store and away from this awful temptation when I have to walk past it every single time I go anywhere outside my apartment building? Help me.

Beef Masala Curry

• Difficulty: Easy
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Adapted from I don’t remember where

1 lbs stewing beef, cut into 1 inch cubes

1/4  big onion, chopped

1 ½ cloves garlic, minced

½ cup tomato sauce

2 TBS  cilantro, chopped

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 1/2 tsp  garam masala

1/4  tsp cumin

1/4  tsp coriander

1/4  tsp cayenne pepper

1/4  tsp smoked paprika

1/4 tsp lemon zest

11/2 tsp  olive oil

½ cup  stock

Preheat your pressure cooker on the saute function and add the oil.  When the oil is hot,  brown the beef.  Add the remaining ingredients,except the cilantro.  Lock the lid and bring to high pressure.  Cook 35 minutes and release pressure naturally.  Serve and garnish with cilantro.

Ground Beef Shawarma and Rice

Two summers ago, I really got into learning  how to cook Indian food. I spent the better part of three months finding ingredients and experimenting with recipes from Raghavan Iyer’s amazing cookbook, 660 Curries. Then I got my first pressure cooker and became a little, okay, a lot, obsessed with learning how to work it and what it could do. I sort of fell a way from Indian cooking.

A few days ago, I found Two Sleevers, a blog that features pressure cooker recipes for Indian food. I was destined to fall in love with this site. I chose to try the ground beef Shawarma because I already had all the ingredients on hand and I have been curious about Shawarma ever since I have seen the Avengers.

One of the reasons I like this site is the creator provides recipes for any spice blends she uses. She doesn’t assume we all have access to an Indian store for Indian spice blends. I am always a bit concerned about how spicy a recipe is because I am a wimp when it comes to hot food. This recipe has a nice flavor but no heat.

• Difficulty: Easy
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Adapted from Two Sleevers

1 ½ tsp oil

½ cup diced onion

2 ½ cloves garlic, minced

½ lb ground beef

1  cup water

¾ cup basmati rice

2 cups shredded cabbage

1 ½ TBS Shawarma spice

¾ tsp salt

Pressure cooker:  Turn your pressure cooker onto Sauté. . When hot, add oil. When the oil is hot and shimmering, add the minced garlic and sauté for 30 seconds.  Add onions and ground beef. Stir while breaking up the ground beef clumps.  Break it up well.  Add rice, water, cabbage, salt, and shawarma spice.  Cook on High Pressure for 5 minutes, and allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes. Release remaining pressure.

Stove top:  In a large frying pan, over medium heat,  add the onion, garlic and ground beef.  Cook until browned, breaking up the meat with a fork; drain any grease.  Add the rice, wate, cabbage, salt and shawarma spice. Bring the water to a boil.  Reduce heat to a slow simmer and cook until the rice is tender and the water  is absorbed, 20-25 minutes.

Shawarma Spice

Apparently,  I disappoint some people when I post spice blends.  I am going to keep doing it though, because I find it really annoying when blogs post a recipe with a spice blend and assume everyone will have easy access to it. This is just enough of the spice blend to flavor the Ground beef Shawarma and Rice recipe that is coming tomorrow.

• Difficulty: Easy
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adapted from Two Sleevers

1 tsp dried oregano

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground all spice

¼ tsp ground cayenne

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp salt

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Mix well. Store mixture in a airtight container in a cool, dry place. 

Instant Pot Coconut Tomato Soup

I am never going to be the kind of person who spends hours on Sunday meal prepping for the week. My Sundays are just too busy for that even when all I do is lay in bed watch back to back to back episodes of Choppped all day. Don’t judge. It gets cold here in North Dakota and sometimes the best t way to spend the day is in bed, under the covers binge watching Chopped.

When my work schedule shifted, leaving me no time to cook after work, not even with my pressure cooker, I knew I needed to find a better way of meal prepping, somewhere between none and most of my day off doing it. I decided that instead of cooking after I got home from work, I would simply gather all my ingredients and tools (I am forever trying to find my can opener) and put them in one place. I would chop any vegetables that needed chopping and put them in the fridge. I would measure any spices I needed and leave them on the counter. That way all I would need to do in the morning is get cooking. Prepping this way only takes about 5-15 minutes in the evening, depending on the recipe. In the morning, I can throw it all in the pressure cook and go about my day or take 20 minutes and cook things on the stove.

Coconut Tomato Soup

• Difficulty: Easy
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adapted from Two Sleevers

1 (14.5 oz) can full fat coconut milk

1 red onion, diced

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes

¼ cup cilantro, chopped

1 tsp garlic, minced

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cayenne

1 tsp turmeric

1 TBS honey

Place all ingredients in the pressure cooker and cook on high for 5 minutes. Use a quick or natural release.

Elsie’s Cranberry Pie

The good news is we are finely to the best part of Thanksgiving dinner, dessert. The bad news is the dessert is not Whole30 compliant. I was going to try some desserts that were technically compliant, remember desserts wouldn’t actually be allowed on a Whole 30, but my friend, Heather, and I paid our first visit to the new Aldi grocery store in Moorhead Monday night. They had fresh cranberries for .98 cents a bag. I bought one and Heather gave me hers because she didn’t know you had to cook cranberries to make them edible. I have to find something to do with the 24 ounces of fresh cranberries I have.

I dug this recipe out of the recesses of my draft pile where it had been hiding for at least 2 years. It is super easy because there is no pie dough to make and roll out. Instead you make a batter and just spread it over the top of the cranberries. Serve this pie warm.

• Difficulty: Easy
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The cookbook I adapted this recipe from came from the library and I can’t remember the name of it.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup honey, divided

1 egg

6 TBS all purpose flour

4 TBS butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Spray a 5 inch deep dish pie pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Add the cranberries and pecans. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of honey over the cranberries and pecans; set aside. In a small bowl, beat the egg until the white and yolk are well combined.  While still beating, add the remaining 2 tablespoons honey, flour and melted butter; mix well.  Spread the mixture over the cranberry pecan mixture. Bake for 45 minutes or until the crust is lightly toasted brown.  Let cool 5 minutes and serve warm.