I go through a process when I contemplate buying a new appliance for the kitchen - I ask myself whether I will use it at least once a month. If not, I won't make the purchase. With my Instant Pot, I've had to make a bit of an effort to make that stick, but I do find myself using it pretty regularly, especially for Indian curries. There's something about the way it cooks the food that really does well with Indian flavors, and I've struggled to make great curries without the Instant Pot.
I've seen a lot of incredibly complex recipes for my favorite curry, Saag Chicken, which involve making some kind of extra second mixture ahead of time, or pre-boiling the spinach, etc. This recipe is healthy, delicious, and relatively simple - it only involves one pot. I do tend to go on the lighter side with the chiles (wimp!) and I like to sear the chicken on the Instant Pot's Saute setting briefly before cooking, but otherwise, I follow this recipe pretty much to the letter. A note on Garam Masala - it sounds mysterious and you can't buy a bottle of it in the grocery store usually. But, you can buy it on Amazon or from an Indian grocery store or - in a pinch - you can make your own. There are loads of recipes out on the internet and it doesn't contain anything unusual - it's just a particular mix of common spices that is often used in Indian food.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound chicken thighs or breasts, cut into cubes. You may also add paneer.
- 1 pound spinach
- 2 tablespoon ghee
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 inch ginger piece or pre-minced ginger
- 1 white onion chopped
- 1-3 green chilies - you can use thai chiles (spicier!), but I usually use jalapenos and only use one or two
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander powder
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- Salt to taste
- 2 teaspoons garam masala powder
- Water
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- Heat up Instant Pot in saute mode and add ghee.
- Saute cumin seeds, ginger & garlic pieces, onions and green chilies. (I also saute the chicken / paneer briefly at this point to brown the outside a bit.)
- Sprinkle in coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt.
- Pour about ½ cup water.
- Add alternating loads of spinach and chicken pieces into the pot. Make sure to separate the chicken pieces, they will stick to each other when you pressure cook.
- Close lid and cook for 8 minutes in “pressure cook” setting.
- Once cooking time is over, manually release the pressure in the pot with a kitchen towel in your hand. Be careful, the liquids may splutter out while releasing pressure.
- Remove chicken pieces out in a bowl. Blend rest of the ingredients using stick blender into a smooth sauce.
- Add chicken pieces back.
- Sprinkle garam masala and yogurt.
- Simmer for 2-3 minutes with a glass lid to cover (curry sauce will splutter).
- Serve hot with basmati rice or naan.
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