Pressure cookers offer a quick and convenient way to get a meal on the table without a lot of fuss. Chef Coco Morante’s Amazon-bestselling cookbook The Essential Instant Pot Cookbook has dozens of family-pleasing options for one-pot meals.
The Essential Instant Pot
Chef Coco says: “This is one of my favorite recipes, inspired by a mind-blowingly delicious meal of momos (aka Nepalese pot stickers) I enjoyed one year at the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco. Folding beautiful dumplings is time-consuming and takes a lot of experience, so I’ve instead taken the basic flavors and infused them into turkey meatballs, adding rice to the ground meat for a one-pot meal—less work, similar flavors, and totally satisfying. I like them on their own, on top of zucchini noodles, or served with cauliflower rice on the side.”
Momo Meatballs With Cilantro Chutney
Serves 3 to 4 (makes 12 meatballs)
INGREDIENTS:
Sauce:
2 tbsp. yellow onion, chopped
1 28-oz. can or 24-oz. jar of crushed tomatoes (about 3 cups)
½ cup water
Meatballs:
1 lb. ground turkey (93 percent lean)
½ cup long-grain white rice or quick-cooking brown rice
1 tsp. ras el hanout spice blend
1 tsp. kosher salt
Chutney:
2 oz. cilantro (1 bunch), leaves and stems
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
1 large green onion, white and green parts cut into ½-inch lengths
½ tsp. kosher salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
One-Pot Meals
DIRECTIONS:
- To make the sauce, select the Sauté setting on the Instant Pot and heat the oil. Add the onion, and sauté for 10 minutes until softened and beginning to brown. Add the tomatoes and water, stir to mix well, and bring to a simmer.
- To make the meatballs—in a bowl, combine the turkey, rice, ras el hanout, and salt, and mix with your hands until all of the ingredients are evenly distributed. Don’t worry about overmixing, as you want the rice and spices to be evenly incorporated into the meat.
- When everything is well-combined, shape the mixture into 12 meatballs, each slightly larger than a golf ball. Place the meatballs in a single layer in the simmering sauce, and spoon a little of the sauce over the top of each one.
- Secure the lid, and set the Pressure Release to Sealing. Press the Cancel button to reset the cooking program, then select the Poultry setting, and set the cooking time for 15 minutes at high pressure.
- While the meatballs are cooking, make the chutney. In a mini chopper or in a mortar with a pestle, combine all of the chutney ingredients, and process or grind into a rough paste.
- When the timer goes off, you can perform a quick release by moving the Pressure Release to Venting, or you can let the pressure release naturally and leave the meatballs on the Keep Warm setting for up to 10 hours.
- Serve the meatballs in their sauce with a spoonful of chutney on top of each.
Reprinted with permission from The Essential Instant Pot Cookbook by Coco Morante, copyright © 2017. Photography by Colin Price. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
