One of the challenges facing most of us is making healthy vegetarian meals while engaged in our busy schedules.
Preplanning and having some basic pantry items on hand is essential, but using a pressure cooker can help you enjoy foods you might not have the time or patience to prepare except on special occasions, and free up your time for other pursuits or practices.
Many people are frightened off by pressure cookers, thinking that they are dangerous and difficult to use (images of lids denting the ceiling and contents splattered all over the kitchen). New generation pressure cookers have spring-valves, so that very little steam escapes and they are much quieter. The pressure valve allows the user to determine the exact time at which the interior of the pan comes to pressure, and thereby affords much greater accuracy in cooking. Because little or no steam escapes during cooking, you can use less cooking liquid (thereby retaining more of the vitamins and minerals). You’ll also use less energy as food cooks, on average, about 3 times faster (most beans and legumes can be cooked in 15 minutes). For dishes such as stews and pasta sauces, the pressure actually causes the ingredients to quickly mingle and their flavours to intensify.
What to buy? Our first experience with a pressure cooker was about 5 or 6 years ago. We purchased a fairly expensive stovetop model made by Kuhn Rikon of Switzerland. This particular model has a quick release valve which is easy to monitor and use, and allows us to reduce the pressure and open the lid without losing a lot of heat – a great way to check food for doneness, or to add other ingredients with different cooking times for complete one dish meals. Keep in mind that pressure cookers are a long term investment, and therefore it is important to select a well-known brand from a company with a long established history (you will eventually need to replace the rubber gasket, for example).
There are actually three methods to release pressure when cooking: touch-release or quick-release method (if your pressure cooker has this feature, described above), cold water release method – running cold water over the pot in the sink to stop cooking (used mainly for foods with short cooking times), and natural release method where you simply remove the pot from the heat and allow the pressure to subside naturally.
We’ve made lots of different meals using our pressure cooker, but our most recent favourite is Vegetarian Barley Risotto. It can be made with winter or summer vegetables, keeping in mind that some vegetables have higher water content than others, and may make the risotto a bit runnier (but not like soup). Experience will tell you how to reduce the stock to compensate for these types of vegetables. Always start with the ratio of 3 cups water/stock to 1 cup of barley until you know better.
Check out this website about pressure cookers (recipes, FAQs, cooking times, what to buy, etc) “Miss Vickie’s Guide to Modern Pressure Cookery”