Instant pot recipe for Tasty Bites Madras Lentils?

September 16, 2023 6:40 PM

Does anyone have a recipe using the instant pot to make copycat Tasty Bites Madras Lentils?

I think they are brown lentils with red beans, onion, chili powder, and...? I bought a sack of Bob's Red Mill Brown Lentils, and am eager to learn to use the sautée feature of my underused Instant Pot.

(I believe these are identical to Trader Joe's lentils, which I have not eaten.)

I haven't cooked lentils before but I have eaten a lot of these packaged meals. I sure would love to make them at home!

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

Instant Pot recipes referencing the packaged product, and using dry lentils:
Madras Lentils from Eating Richly
Dal Makhani Recipe / Madras Lentils from Ministry of Curry
Madras Lentils Recipe, from Food is a Four Letter Word
Vegan Madras Lentils from Faithful Plateful
posted by Iris Gambol at 8:49 PM on September 16, 2023 [4 favorites]

Best answer: I don’t eat the tasty bites madras lentils much, but this dal makhani recipe is good and straightforward and is in the right general area. I mostly use black urad dal when making it, though, not ordinary brown lentils.
posted by leahwrenn at 9:55 PM on September 16, 2023 [5 favorites]

Best answer: Here are the ingredients listed on the package: Water, Black Lentils*, Red Kidney Beans*, Cream*, Tomato Paste*, Dried Onion*, Butter*, Sunflower Oil*, Salt, Cumin*, Chili Pepper Powder*, Dried Ginger*.
*Organic
posted by lulu68 at 3:18 PM on September 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Here's what I plan to make, synthesizing a bunch of online recipes. How does this look?

Dice an onion. Peel two cloves of garlic. Drain a can of kidney beans. Open a can of tomato sauce. Dice a tomato.

Set the Instant Pot to "sauté." Heat 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, and sauté the onion for a couple of minutes. Smash the garlic in a press, add it to the Instant Pot, and sauté for two more minutes.

Dump in the tomato sauce, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder, and stir to combine. Maybe something smoky-flavored and/or garam masala (if I can find some in my drawer)?

Dump in two cups of lentils and the chopped tomato, plus two cups of water and 1/2 cup of cream.

Cook on High for twenty-four minutes, and then allow to vent naturally.

Dump in beans and stir.

I have zero experience with this, so...good luck to me, I guess? Any feedback greatly appreciated!
posted by wenestvedt at 6:47 AM on September 19, 2023

Best answer: 24 minutes seems long for even un-soaked brown lentils, since you're using (acidic) tomatoes and allowing for a natural (& longer) vent release?

And I've had tomato sauce + cream + water trigger the 'burn' warning in one instance and clog the vent at least twice on other occasions, but I likely added too little water for those creamy curried (tomato and carrot, no lentils) soup recipes. In later, read: successful, attempts, I'd stir in the cream at the end (after venting) and let the pot simmer for 5 to 10 minutes... and used an immersion blender as the finishing step to improve texture.

But here, if you added the cream last, I think you'd have to separate out most of the lentils, leave a small portion of the beans, blend, and finally return the remaining cooked lentils and beans to the pot, which is a pain in the keister antithetical to Instant Pot's dump-and-cook, no-fuss charms? Mainly mentioning in case the home result is more watery than the Tasty Bites dish -- blending portions would correct that. Good luck, wenestvedt!
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:44 AM on September 19, 2023 [1 favorite]

Cumin and chilli powder alone does not a madras make. What you're suggesting will be pretty bland. There are lots of recipes for making your own powder, or you could buy it, At the least, include corridor, tumeric and mustard seeds along with the cumin and chilli.
posted by Faff at 12:30 PM on September 20, 2023

Response by poster: Here's what I made:

Dice an onion. Peel two cloves of garlic. Drain a can of kidney beans, and rinse them. Dice two big tomatoes.

Set the Instant Pot to "sauté." Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and sauté the onion for a couple of minutes. Smash the garlic in a press, add it to the Instant Pot, and sauté for two more minutes.

Dump in 1 tablespoon tomato paste, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1 teaspoon ground red Chipotle powder, a few shakes of sweet curry powder, and stir to combine.

Dump in two cups of lentils and the chopped tomato, plus two cups of water and 1/2 cup of cream.

Pressure cook on High for thirteen minutes, and allow to vent naturally.

Dump in beans and stir.

It cooked up nicely, without boiling out through the vent. The 13-minute pressure cook made the lentils & tomato soft, and mixing in the beans resulted in a lumpy but comforting texture. This is going to kill for winter lunches.

Next time less cumin, and add some ginger and some real Indian spice. The chipotle powder gave it nice warm heat, which I love. This was my first batch of lentils, so I was just hoping for a soft landing; authenticity can come in the future!

Thanks for the advice, all, especially Iris Gambol!!!!
posted by wenestvedt at 12:28 PM on September 21, 2023 [1 favorite]