Beef Biryani - A One Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Recipe

I really cannot tell you enough how much I adore my electric pressure cooker.... It's revolutionised my kitchen..... My old stove top pressure cooker has long gone. The electric one is SO much better. 

It's silent. The heat on the stove doesn't need adjusting. It automatically seals when it gets to pressure. It keeps warm after cooking has finished.....

Basically, I can go and get on with ANYTHING else I fancy in the house and just let the pressure cooker simply get on with it..

I'll be honest - I have two. I have one at home and one at work ! I use the one at work for homemade soups for lunch (given I often end up feeding staff too), casseroles etc. I waxed on about them so much that my mum and my best friend now have them too and I believe love theirs as much as I do mine.

First - a little word about cooking rice in a pressure cooker.

Cooking rice and pulses is so quick and easy in the pressure cooker. I often cook just rice to serve alongside something else.

If you are just cooking rice, use 1 cup of WASHED, long grain rice. Add a little salt, a tiny dribble of oil (to prevent foaming) and 1.1/2 cups of water. Bring to pressure and cook for 12 minutes for perfect rice. 

If you haven't washed the rice first, there will not be enough water. I don't wash it after cooking and there will be no liquid left to drain.

I never cook less than 1 cup of rice in my pressure cooker. Always make sure it's at least 1/5th full and never more than 1/2 full with rice / pasta / pulses to allow for expansion. Of course - you can cook far more rice than one cup if you wish to - just use the 1:1.1/2 ratio of rice to water.

For this recipe, as there is already liquid in the pot - I don't add as much water....

This recipe is enough to feed 4 people. If you have a 6ltr electric pressure cooker, there is enough volume in the pot to double this recipe if required.

Ingredients :

500 > 600g stewing beef ( I like skirt as a cut)

150g greek or thick yogurt

1.1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp garam masala

3 cardomom pods (cracked open - I use the bottom of the jar !)

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp turmeric

2 heaped tsp chilli powder

2 tsp grated ginger

1 tsp crushed garlic

1 cup milk

1 cup long grain rice

2 medium onions

handful of fresh coriander

For this recipe, the meat really needs to marinade for at least a couple of hours or overnight (if you have time) to infuse the flavours.

It's very simple. Take all the spices, garlic, ginger, yogurt plus 1 tsp of the salt and mix with the beef. Set aside in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.

When ready to cook, finely chop 1 onion. Turn on the electric pressure cooker. If it doesn't have a brown function, just set it to 15 mins on any cooking section and cancel it when you are done

Add a tablespoon of oil and add the chopped onion. After a minute or two, add the marinaded meat and brown for a few minutes to enhance the flavour. Add in 150mls of boiling water and then bring to pressure for 30mins. If I was using chicken instead of beef, I'd just cook it for 10 mins instead of 30. Skirt is a tough, stewing cut of been but very tasty - if I was oven cooking skirt, I'd give it a good 3 hours to get it as tender as this !

When the 30 mins are up, wait 5 mins for the pressure to drop before carefully releasing any excess steam. Open the pressure cooker and add the 1 cup of washed rice and 1 cup of milk.

If you like coriander, finely chop the stalks and add these now. Reserve the leafy green tops as garnish. Give a good stir and replace the lid. Reset the cooker to cook for 12 minutes.

With about 5 mins left to go, finely slice the remaining onion. Fry in some oil until golden and crispy (almost over-done).

As soon as the beeper on your oven goes, carefully release steam. As we know there is very liquid left, it is safe to do so and won't spurt liquid out the vent (soups etc need to be left to drop pressure naturally before opening).

The biryani may initially look a bit wet - but inside about 60 seconds, the excess moisture will soon evaporate off.

Serve dressed with crispy fried onions and leafy, fragrant coriander.

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - March 2015

Beef Rustica Soup - A Meal in a Bowl

When it's cold and dark outside, there is nothing better to fill up an empty tummy than a good bowl of soup. This is the sort that is a meal in itself - almost verging on a casserole !

Wholesome and hearty - yet full of goodness. I just want to grab a big bowl of the stuff and give it a hug...

This recipe is entirely my own. I originally made it several years ago from some meat in the freezer and storecupboard supplies. Over time, I've fiddled with it a little. I often vary the addition of herbs and sometimes add some chilli if I fancy a kick.

Essentially - it has not changed. I make it every few weeks and a big pot goes a long way. I've written it in my recipe book incase one day in years to come Oliver want's it and I'm not around. That's the thing about recipe books. Handwritten ones that is. I think our souls live in recipe books. Recipes from my mum, grandmother and great grandmother. There is love in recipe books. Feelings. Passion.... and MEMORIES.

When my grandmother passed away a few years ado, I was asked if there was anything I would like to keep. I've got some baking tins and her handwritten recipe book - though most of the pages are not attached. My Gran's writing is in there along with the recipes of things she used to regularly bake. My Gran baked - I don't really remember her trying lots of new recipe dishes, but she did bake a bit and the old recipes were the favourites.

When she left us, her recipe book had been in the drawer in the kitchen - the spine broken and covers all taped together in tatters. A new recipe book was with it. Totally empty and mine to fill. I've transferred the recipes I remember my Gran using into the new book and been adding favourites of my own. This may only be a soup - but it's MY soup, my way and will hopefully one day carry memories of it's own and a happy home.

I love to serve it on a winter weekend evening with some homemade crusty bread . If time does not allow substitute for some fresh rolls from the bakery (as in photo).

BEEF RUSTICA - Sarah-Jane Nash

I cook this in an electric pressure cooker. If you don't have a pressure cooker, cooking time will be much much longer.

500g braising / casserole steak

2 medium onions, diced

3 cloves of garlic - finely chopped / pressed

2 tins tomatoes (preferably plum tomatoes)

tablespoon dried oregano

5 beef stock cubes

100g double concentrate tomato puree

4 beef stock cubes

cup of pasta shells

1500ml of water

2 tablespoons of cornflour.

If your braising steak is already diced into 1" cubes, cut each of these into 3 pieces. I like nice big chunks of meat through this soup. Very roughly chop the plum tomatoes whilst still in the can and add these (complete with juice) into the pressure cooker

 Put all ingredients except the cornflour and pasta into the pressure cooker. I don't brown the meat for this at all.

Bring to pressure and cook for 30minutes. Release steam. Give it a stir and add pasta shells. Check seasoning and add some salt / pepper as required

Mix the cornflour with a little water and add this to the pot, mixing in. Bring back to pressure for another 5 minutes.

That's it. Simple, Hot, Tasty, Cheap, Filling.

Will easily serve 6 hungry people !

Sarah-Jane Nash, http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ and http://www.naturalheating.co.uk/ - February 2011