Tag Archives: pressure

Cooking Long-Grain Brown Rice in a Pressure Cooker

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USING A PRESSURE COOKER

I don’t normally like talking about nutrition on this blog but it is generally accepted that wholegrain brown rice is better for you than white rice thanks to the extra nutrients, protein and fibre that it contains.

Cooking it, on the other hand, can be quite tricky and if you’re not lucky, it can turn into a sticky, stodgy mess.

The idea behind this post is to describe a fail-safe method for cooking brown rice using a pressure cooker with times that can be relied on to produce consistently perfect results.

RECIPE

FOR 2 PEOPLE

  • Boil some water in a kettle.
  • Put 1 cup of brown rice in a pressure cooker with 1/2 teaspoon salt.
  • Add 2 cups of boiling water.
  • Stir well and close the pressure cooker.
  • Bring to pressure.
  • Time 25 minutes.
  • Remove the pressure cooker from the heat and time an additional 5 minutes.
  • Quick release the pressure by placing the pressure cooker in the sink and running cold water over the lid.
  • Test the rice.
  • If it is done, leave the lid off for a few minutes for the steam to escape.
  • If it not done, cover with the lid and leave for another 5 minutes before checking again.

NOTES
If I’m cooking rice, I normally allow 1/3 cup of white rice per person but 1/2 cup of brown rice per person.

Using a pressure cooker to hard boil young hen eggs

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HARD BOILING YOUNG HEN EGGS

Hard-boiled fresh eggs can be hard to peel but eggs laid by young hens are almost impossible. This year I had to replace my entire flock. It was especially frustrating to discover that even when the fresh, young hen eggs were left for 7 rather than the normal 3 days before hard-boiling, they were still impossible to peel.

An egg has an inner and outer shell membrane. Since the egg shell is permeable, as the egg ages, carbon dioxide and moisture are lost through the shell. This causes the two membranes to separate and the air sac to expand. As a result, the older the egg is, the easier it is to peel. 

My normal method of hard boiling eggs was to place them in a pan of cold water and bring to the boil. The cooking time depends on egg size. I wanted a quick method that would ensure that relatively fresh eggs could be hard boiled and easily peeled. My Internet search lead me to the prairie homestead page. Although they were not talking about the problems of hard-boiling young hen eggs, they did mention the idea of using a pressure cooker. I am a huge fan of pressure cookers and believe that no kitchen should be without one. I have a number of different sized cookers and use them all the time to make soups, stews, casseroles and other dishes in a fraction of the time. They can even be used to can tomatoes and other vegetables.

 

For the experiment, I chose four eggs that had been laid on consecutive days. The egg on the right labelled 1 day old was laid on the same day, the 2-day old one the day before, etc.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Put 1 cup (250ml) of water in a pressure cooker and bring it to the boil.

Place the eggs on a steamer and lower it into the pan.

Close the pressure cooker lid and bring it up to full power. Turn down the heat and leave it for 5 minutes.

At the end of the cooking time, if your pressure cooker has a quick release mechanism, quickly release the pressure by placing the pan under the running cold tap. Transfer the eggs to a bowl of cold water, running and change the water until the eggs are completely cool.

RESULTS:

I then peeled the eggs and these are shown in the photo below. The results are conclusive and show how the eggs are easy to peel, and even the freshest egg could be peeled with care.

 

Red pepper and white bean soup

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This soup is made in the pressure cooker. It can either be completely vegetarian or you can add a ham bone or some chopped Serrano ham to make a meatier version.

INGREDIENTS:
200g white beans, soaked overnight
1 onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
400g can of tomatoes
vegetable or chicken stock

Fry the onion in olive oil until soft in the pressure cooker. Add the red pepper and fry for another couple of minutes.

Add the beans and tomatoes and pour over the stock. Bring to the boil. Give it a final stir before closing the lid and bringing up to pressure. Cook for 30 minutes once the pan is at pressure.