Tiny Hawkins 1.5 Liter pressure cooker
As if we didn’t already have enough means to cook food right? 😀
So I picked up one of these off of Amazon:
I actually set out to purchase the smallest GSI pressure cooker available, but it turns out that is now somewhere around 2.9 Litres which is a little large for my purposes. Had a “Schnapps Idea” that I would see if I can control the temperature on our little camping stoves well enough to pressure cook enough food for 1 or 2 people, while conserving fuel. Despite hearing that I should never try to pressure cook beans or rice from my old Granny Davis, it sure looks like that is one of the rare “old wives tales” that simply no longer applies to today’s cooking gear. I *do* note nothing is said about cooking beans in the cookbook that comes with the above unit – but every cookbook we have purchased since picking up our “Instant Pot” electric pressure cooker has covered that topic and more.
One of the dishes I am particularly interested in trying to master with this little pot is Charro Beans, (think Mexican bean soup), a dish I have grown to absolutely love…. But first – thought I would try making some simple Spanish Rice just as a test on our gas stove-top.
Here is my first shot at Spanish rice in a pressure cooker – first toasting 1/2 cup of dry white rice in vegetable oil, adding a few spices, including garlic powder and cumin powder, then adding one cup of liquid, (1/3 cup of tomato sauce and 2/3 cup water). Stirred it real good, inserted the top and, since it was already hot, it came up to pressure in about two minutes. Turned the heat down to low and kept it under pressure for one minute – then move the pot off of the heat and let it cool naturally for 10 minutes. This picture is what it looked like before stirring.
After stirring, I think you will agree it looked far more palatable. I divided it up into 3, more or less equal, bowls and was tickled to have little Mackenzie, (our first Great Granddaughter now 2 years old), set down with me and help me eat two of those bowls. There is just enough left to reheat and have with a cold sandwich for supper.
So I’m going to declare this first test a total success. I might point out that the TOTAL time spent between breaking out one half cup of dry white rice to taking the above photo was only about 15 minutes. I would say that is pretty doggone efficient. The burner was only on for about 3 minutes to toast the rice, plus one minute to pressure cook it in liquid.
Feeling quite a bit better about this purchase now that I’ve actually tested it – but must admit not finding anything about cooking beans in that cookbook had me set back a bit, not to mention Granny Davis’ advice from so long ago ringing in my head. I also didn’t find a whole long on this particular pressure cooker on YouTube, but finally did find Linda Stone’s YouTube Channel and felt a ton more confident after watching quite a few of her videos. While she is using a different pot, hers is still a Hawkins and also 1.5 litre and I’ve learned a bunch already. (As you might guess I am now one of her subscribers). One Item I have picked up is to add a little oil to the liquid any time you are cooking an item that would normally froth up and have the potential to block the steam hole in the lid. Adding a little vegetable oil or olive oil is key to controlling that “frothing”.
Looking forward to another test with Charro Beans, then moving outside to see what I can come up with for controlling the temperature outdoors well enough for successful pressure cooking.