This was one of the first start to finish meals I made in the Instant Pot. The ingredients are simple but they make a plant-based Instant Pot curry that is rich and spicy with a hint of creamy coconut. Add it to the fluffiest rice, some parsley, chillies and a squeeze of lime and it’s a delicious weekday dinner that tastes like you spent a lot more time cooking than you did.
I used the Pot in Pot method for this recipe to allow me to cook the curry and rice at the same time but still separate them, so they don’t get mixed up before you dish them up. For pot in pot I use a small glass Pyrex dish that fits easily inside the Instant Pot. It’s a method that can seem intimidating at first, but once you’ve tried it you realise how easy it is and how much time it saves. I also started with sautéing some ingredients instead of throwing them all in, to create a more flavourful dish, and the sauté function is one of my favourite functions as it gives you the taste of slow cooking on a stove but with the fast cook of a pressure cooker.
It’s a dinner you can have on the table in under an hour, involves minimal clean up and one that requires a total of no more than 25 minutes hands on time. Pretty much the perfect mid-week meal.
Instant Pot Chickpea and Sweet Potato Curry
Ingredients
Curry
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger grated
- 1 tbsp fresh turmeric
- 3 C orange sweet potatoe cubed (aprox 3-4 sweet potatoes peeled and cubed)
- 1 can crushed tomatoes
- 1 can light coconut milk
- 2 cans chickpeas rinsed and drained
Rice
- 1 C Basmati Rice rinsed well
- 1 1/2 C water
- Salt to taste
To serve
- fresh parsley, lime and red chillies optional
You will also need
- A heat proof dish that fits inside the Instant Pot. I use a small glass Pyrex dish about 1L capacity
Instructions
- Turn the Instant Pot onto the Sauté mode and add the coconut oil. Allow for it to warm up for 2 minutes and then add in the finely diced onion. Sauté for 2 minutes, stirring often.
- Add in the garlic, ginger and turmeric and sauté for another minute, mixing all ingredients together.
- Add in the sweet potato cubes, salt and pepper and mix to combine. Sauté for another minute.
- Cancel the Sauté mode to switch the Instant Pot off. Add in the crushed tomatoes, coconut milk and chickpeas and mix everything together.
- Place the steaming rack on top of the curry mixture (it will sit just above it, not touching the bottom).
- Rinse your rice and add it to your heat proof bowl along with the water (I use a small glass Pyrex dish that fits inside the Instant Pot) – do not cover that bowl with a lid.
- Place the dish with the rice on top of the steaming rack and place the lid of the Instant Pot onto the Instant Pot, and make sure the pressure valve is sealed. Cook on manual High Pressure for 4 minutes. The Instant Pot will take a few minutes to come up to pressure (mine took about 8 minutes for this recipe).
- When the pressure cooking is complete the Instant Pot will beep to notify you. Let it use natural release for 10 minutes (it has a timer which will start timing as soon as it’s done the 4-minute pressure cook). After 10 minutes, move the steam release vent up to release the remaining pressure. Once the float valve has dropped, open the lid.
- Using gloves or a cloth, remove the dish with the rice and the steaming rack. The bottom of the dish will be dirty as it’s been sitting on the curry, so place it on some newspaper or paper towel for easy clean up. Add in salt to taste (into your curry mixture).
- Serve the curry along with rice and garnish with fresh slices of chilli, parsley and some lime juice.
Notes
