QUICK PICK-ME-UPS
An Instant Pot is perfect for making hearty, veggie stews for cold winter nights,
January is the perfect time to test-drive that Instant Pot you got over the holidays (or dust off the Instant Pot you forgot about after ordering it on Amazon Prime Day). In addition to cooking foods quickly, pressure cooking intensifies flavours in the pot, making it perfect for hearty stews for winter. Not to mention, after a month of cookie exchanges and holiday feasts, you might want something more vegetable-forward to kick off the new year.
This stew, which happens to be vegan and gluten-free, is packed with vegetables and belly-filling beans to keep you warm in sub-zero weather. A hint of jalapeno (you can add more or keep the seeds to up the heat) adds an astringent zing that keeps the stew from tasting dull, while lemongrass adds a subtle citrus fragrance.
I like the neutral flavour of white navy beans, which absorbs the flavour of the broth while it cooks (another benefit of pressure cooking you probably already heard about: no need to soak beans overnight before cooking).
Rutabaga is a hearty root vegetable that’s in season now and is a cross between a turnip and cabbage. It doesn’t get as much love as other wintery produce such as butternut squash, which is probably why rutabaga is always so cheap. When raw, it has a crisp, slightly bittersweet flavour, but when slowcooked, it becomes pleasantly tender and less starchy than potatoes or squash.
The downside to pressure cooking is that it’s merciless on more delicate vegetables (spinach and zucchini, for example, will pretty much disintegrate) but rutabaga holds up nicely.
This recipe uses a whole 2 lb rutabaga, but if that’s too much, use a smaller one and throw in more of another vegetable such as kale, which also cooks up nicely in a pressure cooker: its fibrous leaves prevent it from falling apart while the pressure tenderizes it.
Another advantage of pressure cooking is you can make big batches fast, and while this recipe yields a lot of soup (about four litres’ worth), it can get boring eating the same thing all week, thwarting your New Year’s resolution of doing more home cooking and eating out less.
That’s why this soup is meant to be versatile: with the addition of just a few ingredients when reheating it, the soup turns into a whole different dish.
Add coconut milk and curry powder for a light Thai-inspired curry; tomato paste and corkscrew pasta for Minestrone; and a big handful of cilantro, a dollop of sour cream and a lime wedge for a Tex-Mex vibe.
You can also add diced chicken or tofu to add more protein, cooked rice and pasta for more carbs, or toss in spinach leaves and sliced radishes and to add crunch to contrast the stew.