Getting People Excited About Pressure Cooking

I am just returning from a half-day workshop that I presented to the employees of the San Diego Red Cross WIC (Women, Infant's and Children) office. There's nothing like packing one's pressure cooker in their suitcase, as I did but it worked out just fine. Cooking while on the road, without a kitchen, isn't my favorite thing to do but I can certainly handle it.

I made red and white quinoa, and along with it I made a tempeh dish with dried mushrooms, red and orange peppers, finished with pea shoot sprouts. It was mixed with Drew's shiitake ginger dressing, as a way to get around buying entire bottles of tamari and olive oil. I didn't taste it but it smelled heavenly to me.

Since today was the Great American Meat-Out, I got to showcase vegetarian foods, along with the microgreens and edible flower products from Fresh Origins. I tell you that you haven't lived until you've tried baby orchids which taste something like cucumbers. The Buzz buttons (or at least that's what I think that they were called, were quite interesting for people since they make your tongue tingle.) Tofurky donated the 5 Grain tempeh which was excellent. I don't get it at my store so I was especially happy to serve it.

The topic of my talk was Mindful Eating to Boost Your Energy and Soothe Your Soul. I think that I presented enough ways for people to become more mindful of their eating, along with ways for them to carry it out such as batch cooking, and using the freezer as your pantry. This is one of my favorite ways to make my cooking life easy.

Using the pressure cooker also makes it fast. So no need to buy frozen brown rice when you can make your own.

My biggest hope with the group was that I could help dispel the myths that pressure cookers are dangerous and can blow up, while introducing the group of almost 100 to foods that they'd never tried. I am sure that I did that. The pressure cooking went on without a hitch and my cooker is once again packed in my suitcase, awaiting its return trip to Santa Rosa. (Think 38 pound suitcase, ugh.) I still think that home-cooking is best so give it a try without taking it on the road.

Veggie Queen Cooks Under Pressure with John Ash

I am rushing off to the farmer's market to buy ingredients so that I can appear on the radio this morning. I will be demonstrating live, how to use a pressure cooker to make 2 of the recipes on my DVD Pressure Cooking: A Fresh Look, Delicious Dishes in Minutes. I will be on KSRO, 1350 am here in Sonoma County, on the Good Food Hour with John Ash and Steve Garner at 11 am PST.

I will be making Shane's Fabulous Lentil Soup and Market Fresh Breakfast Tofu, Potatoes and Vegetables. I have not yet done live radio pressure cooking but I am sure that all will go just fine. It's a beautiful day and we will be out at Bassignani's Nursery in Sebastopol on a live broadcast.

I am really excited to see what gems appear at the market this morning to go into my vegetable dish. That surely will help relieve the pressure.

Pressure Cooker Brown Rice Recipe

I don't need to write much about a recipe for pressure cooking brown rice because all it takes is rice, water and salt, and the salt is optional. So, I'll tell you a bit about using the modern pressure cooker while I am here.

1 cup brown rice, 1 1/2 cups water or stock

This kind of pressure cooker doesn't have a jiggler. It has a little button that pops up to let you know that the pot is at pressure. You can watch the button in action by clicking on the video on my website.

In my DVD Pressure Cooking: A Fresh Look, Delicious Dishes in Minutes, I cook red rice with lentils. I use a long grain red rice from Thailand which keeps turning out different with varying amounts of water and rice. So far, 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water, cooked for 9 to 10 minutes with a natural pressure release seems to work fine, most of the time.

Here's the rub with cooking grains -- how they cook depends upon that batch of grains, how old it is, how it's been stored which effects the moisture level, and other intangible factors. So, following the recipe will work most of the time. You need a jumping off point so this might help.

Another tip: when cooking more than 1 cup of rice, reduce the amount of liquid by 1/4 cup for each additional cup of grain. Here's how this translates into cooking: for the 1st cup of brown rice you use 1 1/2 cups water and for the second cup you use 1 1/4 cups water. Two cups of brown rice requires 2 3/4 cups water in the pressure cooker. This works well for stove top cooking, too.

I do this because I do not care for soggy grains. Do you?

Pressure Cooking DVD Gets Two Good Reviews

It brings me great joy to get people actually using their pressure cookers. It's a tool that can change your cooking life and lead you easily to healthier and more delicious eating, all while saving time and energy. It's green, lean and delicious -- a truly unbeatable combo.

Read what others have to say about my DVD. At GoDairyFree.Org Sarena made the black beans and loved them and the fact that they took about 10 minutes to cook, from start to finish (after presoaking). On Lisa Reviews you'll need to scroll down the page to see that Lisa realized I was telling the truth when I said, "If you can boil water, you can pressure cook."

If you've been afraid of the pressure cooker, I want to encourage to take the next step. Buy one and try it. It's one of the best holiday and New Year's gifts that you can give yourself.

But if you want to wait, Valentine's Day is a good time, too.

I am always happy to answer pressure cooking questions at jill@pressurecookingonline.com. My DVD is available on my website at http://www.pressurecookingonline.com/.

Why I Adore My Pressure Cooker

Just a short time ago I presented an all day workshop at the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program in Napa for the staff to teach them about vegetables, whole grains and tofu.


My pressure cookers, as usual, made me look great. In just a few hours, I made a batch of brown rice and 4 vegetable dishes which would have easily taken twice as long with regular cooking. In that time, I made a Garlicky Eggplant Dish, Squash with African Curry and Tomatoes, Tofu with Ginger and Green Beans, and one other dish. The cooking time included all the prep, as I was doing one of my extra-special show, tell and taste demonstrations which are wildly popular.

With a pressure cooker or two I can whip up quick meals anywhere that I have a burner -- at home is best but I can bring my trusty butane burner or camp stove or induction burner (if there's electricity) and I am set to go.

It would take many minutes for me to wax on about why I adore my pressure cooker but if you've read here at all, you know that I do. On the short list of kitchen equipment that I wouldn't want to live without -- the pressure cooker is right there. That is, if I want cooked food.

Lots of Pressure and it All Goes Well

I have been pressure cooking up a storm lately at many different public venues -- and always making incredibly tasty dishes that people love. But I don't do what I do to make great food (although that's certainly the bonus), but to get people thinking about how easily they can do the same themselves,while being energy efficient.

At Solfest in Hopland, CA last week, I had one of my best audiences ever. I think that it's because they knew that they would be learning about pressure cooking, and that's what they came for. Often people think that they will learn about cooking and I spring the scary (NOT) PC on them. They're still waiting for it to blow up, which it will not do.

I tried to put in the Google link to the info with my handouts from Sol Fest but it didn't work. So, below is the recipe that I made.

I, of course, recommend that you only use an old, noisy, jiggle-top cooker if you like it and have experience. Remember, I don't touch that kind -- for the fear that it will blow up. I'm not into explosions of any kind when it comes to food.

White Bean Soup with Garlic, Tomato and Herbs
Makes 8 1 cup servings
7 minutes high pressure, 10 minute natural pressure release; 2 minutes stovetop
This soup tastes so fresh and the colors are attractive. It’s more energy efficient and way less expensive than going to the store for a can of soup, and you can season it however you want.

2 cups Cannellini (Italian white kidney) or Great Northern beans, presoaked or quick soaked
2 teaspoons oil
1 medium onion, diced to equal 1 cup
3 tablespoons chopped fresh garlic, divided
1 cup diced potatoes
6 cups vegetable broth
2 bay leaves
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
3 tablespoons fresh chopped Italian parsley
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped plus some sprigs for garnish
1 tablespoon lemon juice or white balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons grated dairy or soy Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Add the oil to the cooker over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 2 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of the garlic and sauté 1 minute more.
2. Add the beans, potatoes, broth and bay leaves. Lock on lid. Turn heat to high and bring to high pressure. Set timer for 7 minutes. Turn heat to low to maintain high pressure.
3. When the timer sounds, turn off heat and move pot to a cool spot on the stove. Let the pressure come down naturally for 10 minutes, then release any remaining pressure.
4. Carefully remove the lid, tilting it away from you. Remove the bay leaves. Using a hand blender, carefully mix the hot soup until it is mostly creamy, with a few whole beans left in for texture.
5. Add the tomatoes and cook for 1 to 2 minutes until they start to soften. Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley, basil and remaining garlic. Taste and add lemon juice or vinegar and adjust seasonings. Sprinkle with the cheese and additional chopped parsley and basil, if desired.

© 2008, The Veggie Queen™, Jill Nussinow, MS, RD, http://www.theveggiequeen.com/ or http://www.pressurecookingonline.com/

The Veggie Queen at Sol Fest in Hopland in August

I had been waiting to hear about my cooking demonstration at Sol Fest in Hopland, CA in August. I just found out that I will be presenting Green Cooking in the Pressure Cooker: The New Fast Food on Sunday, August 17th at 11 a.m.

As far as I understand it, this is one of the greenest festivals around - more so than even the Green Festivals. I have never wanted to attend as a speaker before but this year feels like the right time to get people excited about pressure cooking.

I will do a short demo, using local produce, that will likely amaze people in the audience, as usual. I hope that some of you will be there.

Hopland is about an hour and a half north of San Francisco. There will be other amazing speakers there that usually include Amy Goodman, Paul Stamets (right up there on my list of personal faves) and more.

And while I am there, I believe that I can pump some biodiesel for my car. So, mark your calendar and I'll see you there.