Tonight I made a one dish meal in the Instant Pot, to use up some things out of the freezer and the fridge, as well as some of that basil, out of the hydroponics! I had 8 oz of ham (the vacuum seal was broken), and about 1¼ lbs of shrimp in the freezer, that needed used, and some green peas and celery in the fridge I wanted to use, and that basil was getting overgrown, so I had to cut it.
I started out by soaking about 2 lbs worth of dried tomatoes in hot water. Then I soaked 3/4 oz boletus mushrooms in hot water (I was first thinking of Italian, when I did this, but it went well with all this). Then I soaked 2/3 c toor dal in warm water, to add some nutrition to the rice. Then I started cutting up all the ingredients, starting with a large onion, which I put in the IP, with about 4 tb olive oil, on Sauté medium. I diced up a large bell pepper, and about 1½ c celery, adding those as they were cut, along with the ham. Then I cleaned those boletus, saving the washing water, and minced those up and added to the IP, stirring frequently, and added 6 minced garlic cloves, and after a minute, I added about ½ c vermouth, letting it boil down, while I prepped the tomatoes, blending them to a paste, with half the basil, then rinsing the Vitamix out with the soaking water from the tomatoes and boletus.
The IP had almost cooked down, and I then added the powdered bay leaf, a generous tsp of marjoram, a tsp of cloves, a tsp of crushed Thai pepper, stirred it briefly, then added the tomatoes, rinsing out the VM with enough of that soaking water to make about 4½ c. Then I drained and rinsed the dal, and added this, along with 1 1/3 c parboiled rice, added a tb of soy sauce, and a little more salt, then put the lid on, and set it on Rice mode, which is on low pressure, 12 minutes, and let the pressure release 10 minutes, then released the rest of the pressure. Then I stirred the rest of the basil, chopped up, and those leftover green peas in, then put some shrimp on top to steam for a serving. When I reheat some, I'll put some on top for each serving, in the second half of the heating.
Starting out a batch of Jambalaya, with a hint (or more!) of Italian, with a bunch of basil added to it. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
Here's the basil, from the hydroponics, before blending half with the tomatoes, adding the rest after rice cooks. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
The rice and lentils cooked, before adding the green peas and topping with some of the shrimp, to cook briefly, for one helping. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
The jambalaya, after stirring in the green peas and second half of the basil, and topping with a few shrimp, for one serving. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
My Italian style Jambalaya, with basil, and a few shrimp placed on top in the Instant Pot, to steam for 5 minutes. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr