Converting a stove top recipe to an Instant Pot – African Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew
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So you've got an Instant Pot - now what? Does this mean you need a whole new set of cookbooks? Not necessarily. This African Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew is one that I converted from stovetop to Instant Pot.
The original recipe was in Robin Robertson's Vegan Planet.
Converting a recipe for the Instant Pot
Converting some of your favorite recipes can be easy. The two main things to consider are:
- Cook time
- Amount of liquid
Cook time
In the case of this African Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew, the bulk of the original cook time was 30 minutes. Looking at all the ingredients, everything is mostly cooked except the sweet potatoes. According to the cook time chart in the recipe book that came with the Instant Pot, diced sweet potatoes take 7-9 minutes at high pressure. So I chose 8 minutes and let the pressure release naturally.
Amount of liquid
Pressure cooked food doesn't lose as much moisture to evaporation as food cooked on the stovetop. In fact, it will lose very little. So when converting a recipe, you might need to reduce the liquid in the recipe to keep the consistency the same.
Most sources online say that you need 1 1/2 cups of liquid for the Instant Pot to get up to pressure. This recipe called for one can of crushed tomatoes and 1 1/2 cups of vegetable stock. The can of crushed tomatoes will have at least 1/2 a cup of liquid in it. So I decided to reduce the vegetable broth to one cup.
Both of these changes worked perfectly. When altering a recipe, I'd err on the side of leaving too much liquid on the first try. You can always let it simmer after the pressure comes down if it's too juicy.
Do you have gluten-free friends? This African Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew recipe just happens to be gluten-free too!
[wprm-recipe id=4805]
