Pressure cooker what you can do

Jupiter55

HI 

I have recently purchased a pressure cooker, just a few hints and tips if anyone has them

can I make things with colmans etc packets ie casserole mixes
can I make things with milk, ie mushroom soup , porridge

thanks very much

ToastLady

I use mine mainly for soups and cooking dried pulses.
I would imagine that you could use casserole mixes, as they are just dry ingredients. I wouldn't use milk in the pressure cooker as it boils and froths up, and imagine it would splutter out of the top and make a mess. You can add milk/cream once your soup is cooked, and heat through with the lid off. 
I tend to add milk or cream just to the amount of soup that I am using, and put the rest in portions in fridge or freezer.

-taff

I wouldn't bother making porridge in there, soup and stews certainly, or cooking chana dal for example [ cuts the cooking by at least 2 hours] or cooking dried and reconstituted pulses, or meat joints...

Brambling

I make rice pudding in mine and it works ok, cooks in 15 minutes

PollyWollyDoodle

Mince for spaghetti Bol - tastes as if it’s been simmering for hours. Likewise cheap cuts of meat for stews. I cook pulses in mine, and I make a lot of soup. I also use it to make stock with a chicken carcass if I’ve had a roast. 

I agree about the milk, I would add it later as it doesn’t need cooking at a high temperature, and it may froth up. 

DianneB

Brilliant for soups and stews and steaming christmas puddings! 

Rosa_Damascena

I never use mine, can't stand having a smelly steamy kitchen.

My Mum on the other hand uses hers all the time for pulses - can be particularly handy for dried kidney beans and chickpeas - and I would say uses hers at least 3 times a week, and has for decades. It's v handy for vegetarian cooking. Recently she upgraded to a huge Fissler, which cost her over £200 and she seems to think is a bargain!! 

It never occurred to me to try rice pudding in the pressure cooker - once it's burned, the whole dish is ruined. Plus you then have the joy of scraping burnt milk solids off the bottom of the pan.

Jupiter55

wee update, have made soup and also did vegetables.

my partner didnt think the tatties would be done in the short time but they were 
This one causes pretty much no steam and when its time to release it I take it to the back door. no more steamy kitchens from cooking veg etc

liking it so far, am going to made a chicken casserole with cubed chicken tommorow

cheers

Brambling

Rosa_Damascena said:

It never occurred to me to try rice pudding in the pressure cooker - once it's burned, the whole dish is ruined. Plus you then have the joy of scraping burnt milk solids off the bottom of the pan.

I've never had this problem and made it a few times, I follow the recipe in the book it came with.  It uses a little butter in the bottom.  I usually just use milk but I have mixed half milk half coconut milk 

Jupiter55

okay quick update

just made chilli with beef mince and it was burned at the bottom of the pan

what I did

fry the mince off , then moved it to a plate while I softened onions and mushrooms, added mince back after I had drained the fat off. The I drained the pot so there was oil lurking about.

added chilli, chilli powder and other spices

added a tin of chopped toms and another tin of water

brought it to pressure using high flame on gas, then turned it to high mark for 10 mins

what did I do wrong, 

I have seen some folk say they use a trivet to stop things sitting on bottom of the pot

want to make yellow split pea soup tommorow now a bit hmmmmm

cheers

Rosa_Damascena

I know nothing about mince (I'm a veggie), but I thought it was fairly quick to cook? So is it really a pressure cooker dish?

Split pea soup should be fine as long as there's enough water in it.