Arroz non Pollo

January 21, 2019 at 9:55 pm (Beans, B_minus (2.5 stars), Grains, Instant Pot, Jill Nussinow, Mexican & S. American, One pot wonders)

This Arroz non Pollo recipe from Jill Nussinow’s Vegan Under Pressure cookbook gets rave reviews in the Instant Pot Vegan Recipes Facebook group. Other than the cilantro, all the ingredients seemed like something Alma would eat. So I decided to give it a try.

The technique is interesting. You first dry-saute mushrooms. I was impressed to see that the water very quickly came out of the mushrooms and they started to cook without burning. Then you add carrots, garlic, turmeric or a pinch of saffron (I used both), and cayenne (I omitted it for Alma). You saute them briefly (without oil) and then add brown rice, vegetable broth with 1 bunch of cilantro blended into it, and soaked pinto beans. You cook the rice and let the pressure release naturally, then at the very end you throw in red bell pepper, peas, and corn.

I forgot to soak any pinto beans so I reduced the amount of broth by 1/4 cup and threw in some already cooked kidney beans at the end with the final veggies.

I wasn’t sure how much 1 bunch of cilantro was. My bunch looked really big so I only used 2/3 of it. I wish she would have given a weight measurement.

And 1 cup of sliced mushrooms only seemed to be 2 ounces? That’s just a few mushrooms. I doubled it and added 4 ounces.

I kept looking for tomatoes in the recipe, but couldn’t find any. Instead, the cilantro and turmeric turn the rice a yellow greenish color. It’s very pretty. And the texture of the rice came out perfect.

Unfortunately, Alma refused to eat it and Derek didn’t like it very much. He said it tasted “muddy”. I think he didn’t like the flavor of the very cooked cilantro? Normally we throw cilantro in at the very end and it’s a much greener, brighter flavor. But I liked how the blended cilantro colored the rice. If I wanted to keep the basic idea but cook the cilantro less, how could I do it? Would I soak the rice first? Would that cut the cooking time substantially? Would I cook the rice for 15 minutes and then quick release and then add the cilantro only for the last 5 minutes of cooking?

Also, maybe my homemade vegetable broth was too strong and funky? Maybe I need to use a more mild vegetable broth? Maybe make a simple one with just onions and carrots and cilantro stems?

I liked the combination of veggies and rice but I actually wanted more veggies and less rice. And it made a *huge* amount. I think if I make this again I will leave the veggie amounts the same (except use 8 ounces of mushrooms and a whole bell pepper), but cut the rice amount back by 25%.

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