Adapting a rice and lentil recipe for Instant Pot

December 1, 2021 5:21 PM

Looking for ideas on where to start adapting my family’s rice and lentil recipe to make it in the Instant Pot!

At its most basic, it’s: sauté 0.75 cups of brown rice in some olive oil until it’s toasty. Add 1.5 cups of brown lentils and 5.25 cups of water, plus some salt. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer on low for 45 minutes. (We add different spices depending on what we’re feeling like, and caramelize a giant pan of onions to stir in at the end.)

I realize it may take a little experimenting getting the rice/lentils right in the instant pot, but I’m looking for any suggestions anyone might have on where to start as far as adjusting the amount of water, and how much time under pressure. Thanks!

posted by skycrashesdown to Food & Drink (7 answers total)

I'd start with trying four cups of water for 18 minutes.
posted by metasarah at 5:34 PM on December 1, 2021

Slightly less water and ~1/3rd of the time, is generally where I start.

Is it soupy at the end? Like dhal? Brown rice takes 22min with just ~1:1.2ish rice:water. For Dhal, I use 1:3.5 red lentils:water and I've found that ratio transfers to other lentils reasonably well (though most require much longer).

I'd probably start at 4.75cups water, 20min. Release immediately and check for cookedness. Any extra water can be boiled off at the end.
posted by kjs4 at 5:41 PM on December 1, 2021 [1 favorite]

Basically, you're making mujadara, and just googling "mujadara instant pot" brings up a bunch of recipes.
posted by LionIndex at 5:45 PM on December 1, 2021 [7 favorites]

I was just wondering what to make for dinner. I’ll split the difference between your description and Indian-ish's base recipe and report back.
posted by clew at 6:03 PM on December 1, 2021

Did:

Set 5.25c water to boil in electric kettle
Sautéed. 0.75c light-brown rice* in some oil until it started popping off its husks and browning
Added about 1.5 T turmeric, 1T salt, black pepper, red pepper and tossed into the hot oily rice

Added 1.5c brown lentils and the just-boiled water, closed the Instant Pot, set for 20' at high pressure

Started browning the onions

Opened the IP the fast way at 20'

Definitely done, possibly has been done for a while - the rice is turning into a jelly. Nice mouthfeel but I’d try 15' the next time. I don’t usually sauté my rice so I don’t know how that changes its cooking time. The lentils can be done in 10' of high pressure.

Here a problem! My onions aren’t done yet! Maybe because I was caramelizing a a full pan, not crisping a scant pan?

Hope that helps -
posted by clew at 7:14 PM on December 1, 2021 [1 favorite]

Based on my own lentil-making experiences, there's not much point in cooking them in a pressure cooker unless a stovetop isn't an option. The cook time for lentils in a pressure cooker is short, but the pressurize/depressurize time is long enough that there's no speed advantage over a cooktop, and I didn't discern any improvement in quality.
posted by adamrice at 12:13 PM on December 2, 2021 [1 favorite]

RE adamrice, the benefit for some of us is being able to push a button and walk away rather than keep an eye on the stove. At some points in my life that has been helpful, at some points it has not.
posted by metasarah at 12:16 PM on December 3, 2021 [1 favorite]