[Instant Pot] Vegetarian Japanese Golden Curry

[theinfamousj]

Have you had Golden Curry? It is the tongue-satisfying corporeal embodiment of the flavor: umami. It is stew, cooked in a fraction of the time it takes to cook stew. And it can be cooked entirely in the Instant Pot. I know there are other Instant Pot Japanese Golden Curry recipes, but they all contain meat and use pressure. This one is just the saute feature and is vegetarian, making it a dish that can be cooked anywhere there is a power outlet.

Golden curry is WORK though. Nothing minimal effort here. Lots of stirring and cutting on the front end. On the back end is a lot of waiting. This is probably why people in Japan only have this dish a few times a month.


INGREDIENTS and MATERIALS

• 3 baking potatoes
• 1 Golden Curry roux [substitute make the roux yourself from scratch]
• 4 wimpy grocery store sized carrots [substitute 1 package frozen carrots]
• 4 cloves garlic
• 4 TBSP butter, divided in half [substitute olive oil in same amounts]
• 2 of the cheapest onions you can find
• a few pinches of kosher salt
• 1 cup lentils
• 3 dry rice cups white rice
• water

Materials

• knife and cutting board
• large prep bowl and a kitchen towel [substitute a second inner-pot for the prep bowl]
• mixing paddle [substitute other mixing implements]
• Instant Pot
• measuring cup for water
• optional Garlic Press to make mincing the garlic easier

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Add your rice (3 dry rice cups) to your Instant Pot. To this, add 3.5 rice cups of water. Yes, rice cups are different than cup-cups. They are smaller. But they are optimized for rice. They know.
2. Put the lid on your Instant Pot and set it to SEAL. Press the RICE button. Let it do its thing.
3. While the rice is doing its thing, you can prep the other ingredients. Cut the onions (2) into thin rainbows, wash the outside of the baking potatoes (3) and chunk them into just-a-bit-larger-than-a-bite; yes, with the skin on for that is where the nutrition is. Peel the garlic (4 cloves).  And finally, cut the carrots (4 wimpy grocery store sized) in the rangiri style. You can, if you want, pick through your lentils (1 cup) to remove any stones but we live in the future and it is very rare for stones to end up in grocery store lentils at this point.
4. Once the rice reports that it is finished, allow it to REST and NATURAL RELEASE for 10 additional minutes in the Instant Pot.
5. At the conclusion of this time, open the valve to QUICK RELEASE any remaining pressure. Remove the lid. And scoop the rice from the inner pot into the waiting prep bowl which then is covered with a kitchen towel to allow the rice to cool with panache. [If substituting a second inner pot, simply remove the existing inner pot and top it with the kitchen towel and insert the second inner pot.]
6. Now, turn the newly cleaned out Instant Pot to SAUTE and choose Normal/Medium for the heat level. Wait until the Instant Pot reports HOT (learn more about how to cook with stainless steel). At that point, add your first knob of butter (2 TBSP) and let it melt.
7. Once the butter has melted, add your onions (2, thin rainbows) and stir them around for 5 minutes to let them fry a little. Add a pinch of salt to the onions, and stir to evenly distribute the salt, and then continue to fry the onions for an additional 10 minutes.
8. Now mince the garlic (4 cloves) or put it through a garlic press or otherwise macerate it and add the garlic (4 cloves, minced) to the Instant Pot along with the second knob of butter (2 TBSP). Fry it with the onion, together, for approximately 3 minutes or until the garlic is fragrant.
9. To this, add your potatoes (3, chunked) and carrots (4, rangiri cut) and dust them with another pinch of salt. Stir them around in the pan for 2 minutes.
10. At this point, look at your Golden Curry Box and read how much water it wants you to use for its built in recipe. We aren't following that recipe, but the water amount it calls for is the water amount you need to know. Measure out that amount of water. [If substituting home made roux, your water amount will be 1L.]
11. Pour in the water (amt varies) as well as adding your lentils (1 cup) into the Instant Pot and give everything a stir. If need be, reset your cook time for the SAUTE on Medium/Normal. Sometimes these things time out depending on how slowly one cooks. A watched pot never boils, so at this point step back and let the contents of the Instant Pot come to a rolling boil.
12. Once boiling, set a timer for 20 minutes (or even better, adjust the cook time to 20 minutes) and allow the contents of the Instant Pot to continue to cook down.
13. At the end of the 20 minutes, press CANCEL and then once again press the SAUTE button on the Instant Pot however many times it takes to have the LOW heat setting activated. Add the Golden Curry roux to the Instant Pot and give it a bit of a stir. Add more water if the consistency is thicker than you'd like; I like a thick curry so these instructions are written to my taste. Set a timer for 10 minutes (or even better, adjust the cook time to 10 minutes) and allow the contents of the Instant Pot to continue to cook down and yum up.
14. And that is all there is to it. You are now ready to serve.

My favorite way to eat it is half rice and half curry in a bowl, side by side (rather than top to bottom). Enjoy!

Bibliography time! I started with this recipe, which I have made on the stove top many times, but modified it to my preferences. Feel free to make both versions - mine and Yoto Omura's - and tell me which you prefer in the comments.