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Best-ever 4 minute Instant Pot Rice

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If Ray could live off one food for the rest of his life, hands down it would be rice (Ok…and lamb). I was historically impartial to rice (I’m a mashed potatoes kind of girl), but I was forced to fall in love with it during my pregnancy once I started slowing down and had to pass the dinner-making reins to Ray. The important thing to know about him is he has 2 speeds in the kitchen:

1) a slow cooked simmered something that requires to be served over rice and;

2) the trifecta: protein on grill + sautéed greens + well…rice.

So it was safe to assume that from April to August, I ate rice for dinner. Therefore it’s also safe to assume that Sebastian is made of 50% rice…and conservatively 50% Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk.

Ray is a man of simple pleasures and simple flavors so my best-ever 4 minute Instant Pot Rice is inspired by his with an Eva flare (read: just more spices). It’s a great base recipe with infinite ways to pump it up, so I have full confidence this will become a go-to dish in your house no matter what.

By the way, we’re those weirdos who are obsessed with their Instant Pot , who always want to sell everyone on the glory, the magic that is the Instant Pot. Like, you can’t come into my kitchen until you sit through my infomercial about this amazing appliance. So I’m telling you, this is a recipe for THE perfect, most flavorful, fragrant rice and the Instant Pot does all the heavy lifting. Also… if you DON’T own one of these or even worse, you own one and don’t use it every night (hi, Marina!) then you’re not living your best life. You’re just not and I can’t even argue with you about it, it’s just fact. OK?

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Fragrant 4-minute Instant Pot Rice

Prep

Cook

Inactive

Total

Yield 4-6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 cup thoroughly rinsed basmati or jasmine rice
  • 2 cups chicken stock (or any stock)
  • 1 T olive oil
  • 4 cardamom pods, broken open
  • 2 tsp cumin seeds (ideally toasted but not required)
  • 1 T salt
  • 1 bay leaf

Instructions

  1. Place all ingredients in the Instant Pot and stir.
  2. Close lid and valve and set to "pressure cook" on high for 4 minutes.
  3. Once cooked, release pressure valve and let sit for additional 10 minutes. DO NOT take off lid until 10 minute resting period is done. Sip wine, set the table, call your mom while you wait.
  4. Fluff and serve.

Courses Dinner

 

Holiday Edition: Spiced Wine-Poached Pears with Mascarpone

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I’ve been waiting to make these spiced wine-poached pears, literally for months since I first had them on an amazing trip to South Africa. I decided Christmas Eve dinner was the perfect opportunity to serve them.  On top of being simple, elegant and extremely fragrant, I love the idea of serving poached pears to offset all the chocolate and cookie-eating my family does this time of year.  It’s nice to have something on the lighter side.  I also love these because whatever doesn’t get finished during dessert can be used to pour over pancakes or waffles the next morning.

I used Food 52’s  Red Wine Poached Pears recipe. It was a great recipe but too sweet for my taste, so I’ve adjusted it slightly. I also added cloves which really upped the spice factor. And though  I didn’t think of it until after, I could have added some knobs of fresh ginger left over from my holiday cocktail which would have been lovely.

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Serves 6

  • 4 cups red wine ( inexpensive, medium-dry wine)
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • Peels from 2 oranges
  • 1 whole orange (without peel)
  • 10 -12 whole cloves
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • A small handful of thyme
  • 6 firm but ripe pears, peeled, stems left intact
  1. After removing the skin from 1 orange, pierce the orange with the cloves, making sure they are well fastened.
  2. Combine everything except for the pears in a large, heavy saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to simmer. Add pears, and bring everything back up to a simmer.
  3. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer slowly until pears are tender when pierced with knife, about 25 minutes. (But start checking at 20 minutes! Depending on the ripeness of your pears, this could take slightly less or more time.)
  4. Transfer pears to a plate or platter. Boil liquid in saucepan until reduced to 3 cups, about 20 minutes. (Can be made 1 day ahead — just cover and chill pears in the poaching liquid.) Before serving, rewarm over medium-low heat until pears are heated through, or simply serve them at room temperature.
  5. Serve with vanilla ice cream or mascarpone cheese.