Very Easy
If you can chop, mix, blend, stir, and press buttons, you can make these recipes. So, yes, your fourteen-year-old can likely make most of this food. They were designed to be easy for the average home chef—you know, the real people like me who don’t have caviar, octopus, and that certain truffle that only grows in the Alps just lying around in their pantry. Many of these recipes use pantry and freezer vegetables, but not canned cream-of-anything soups or ready-made sauces in cans.
Having said that, I do like to cook recipes from around the world. There are recipes that may call for ingredients you don’t currently have. I would urge you to get a few special things like whole spices with which to make your own garam masala, berbere, shawarma spice blend, etc. You’ll thank me once you realize the huge difference that grinding your own spices can make to a recipe. It’s five minutes well invested and will elevate your cooking more than any other single thing you can do.
Authentic Recipes from Around the World
You may not be familiar with all the cuisines and taste profiles I feature in this book. But here’s your chance to try something different, while relying on recipes that are extremely well-tested, and whose flavors have been blessed by those who grew up eating or cooking these recipes from around the world. My very active Facebook group is filled with foodies, many of whom are well-traveled and accomplished cooks. They helped vet the ease and authenticity of all of these recipes.
I urge you to step out of your usual cooking rut or your comfort zone with some of these recipes, and do so with the expectation that you and your family may find flavors that become your new favorites. My advice to you is not tell yourself, “Oh but I don’t like [insert cuisine here].” Rather look at a recipe and its ingredients. Does it have flavors you enjoy? If so, try making the recipe. Nine times out of ten, my readers who do this end up raving about a hitherto unheard-of dish. Of course if you hate mushrooms, you’re unlikely to like them any dish, no matter what the cuisine. So be a little brave, but use what you know about your tastes to pick and choose.
Well-Tested
Every recipe in this book has been tested not just by me, but by several people in my Two Sleevers Facebook group as well as by readers of my blog. Make each recipe once as written and then feel free to experiment. What this means is that if a recipe doesn’t work for you, it’s unlikely to be the recipe, and more likely to be something that you could do differently. If a recipe doesn’t work for you, please ask questions on my blog or in my Facebook group and someone will help you.
I tested (and retested!) all the Instant Pot recipes in either a 6-quart Duo, 6-quart Ultra, or 3-quart Mini Instant Pot. Each model has its own nuances, so I’ve tried to keep the instructions as generic as possible. These recipes work as written in a 6-quart Instant Pot. All but the ones that require pot-in-pot cooking or that cook more than a pound of meat at a time also work in a 3-quart model. If you’re using an 8-quart Instant Pot, you may need to add ¼ cup water to recipes that do not call for added water.
Customizable
It’s very easy to customize many of the dishes by using the animal protein of your choice. Different meats have varying amounts of connective tissue and fat, which means they cook at different rates. Substituting one for another is usually possible; just adjust the cooking time up or down accordingly. My previous cookbooks (Indian Instant Pot and Keto Instant Pot) include pressure cooking time charts, as does the Instant Pot manual. These show recommended times for different types of meats. Similarly, you can substitute plant proteins for meats in most recipes—albeit with very different cook times. I suggest you gain some familiarity with your Instant Pot before you swap veggies or beans for meats.
Leveraging the Science of Pressure Cooking
I am a scientist by training. Not for nothing, but do I have a doctorate in experimental psychology! I am also a gadget geek, as you can see from my various Instant Pot and air fryer cookbooks. I believe in thoroughly understanding a gadget and how it works, and then leveraging that to cook differently.
These recipes skip many of the steps that you use in stovetop or oven cooking, such as browning meat or vegetables. The pressure cooker is capable of browning your food for you (watch my video about the Maillard reaction in a pressure cooker on my blog or YouTube channel). I spent a long time testing and streamlining recipes so that you don’t have to. I’ll urge you to do what my groups do, which is to #trustUrvashi and try a recipe as written the first time. You can tweak it to your preference the next time around.
Leveraging the Power of the Instant Pot
When I buy an Instant Pot cookbook with recipes that require me to sauté on the stovetop, bake in the oven, and/or fry in an air fryer, then cook in the Instant Pot—all for one dish, sometimes—I am driven mad. Very few dishes in this cookbook require this type of “you must surely have elves that wash all hundred pots you just dirtied” type of cooking. Most cook with just the Instant Pot, with some recipes suggesting different ways you can finish them off.
Unleash Your Inner Kitchen God or Goddess (or Both)
I see my job as equipping you with the basics you need to cook—and then encouraging you to tweak the recipes so you can make your own adaptations. Trust me when I tell you that inside you, there is a kitchen god or goddess waiting to be unleashed. All she needs is a little love and a little knowledge. I am very sure that as you work your way through these recipes, your confidence will grow, your lucky dinner guests will enjoy your cooking, and you’ll start to see yourself as an accomplished cook, even if you never cooked elaborate meals before.