snoopy's Reviews
17 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 17Sort by: Title 
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Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure
By Lorna J Sass
Cookbooks - 1994
Armenian Red Lentil Soup with Apricots : page 38
Red lentils cook up to a lovely color. (In this soup, the color was enhanced by the apricots and tomatoes.) They don't need soaking, and they cook up fast (4 minutes in pressure cooker or about 20 without). It would be difficult for me not to like a red lentil soup.
This recipe reminded me that red lentils shouldn't be forgotten, even when the pressure cooker opens up a world of other beans to fast cooking. It was light and fresh. Since I have a modern type pressure cooker, I liked that the oil was optional, and I left it out.
I would make a few changes next time, though. I used Blenheim variety dried apricots, which I adore. But the Blenheims have a tarter edge than the Turkish-type that would have been more traditional here. (The recipe did not specify; although it probably wasn't necessary since the Turkish are by far the most common). Extra sweetness would have been welcome, so I would try the Turkish (or a half and half mix) next time. I also would have tracked down my kitchen snippers and snipped the apricots vs. trying to chop them with a knife (too sticky to chop very well). Finally, I would have used more apricot. I used toward the high range, but the apricot was the star here, so a bit more would have been welcome.
useful (1)
Basic Brown Rice : page 122
I made the "sushi brown rice" option, and I used short grain brown rice. The pressure cooker makes great sticky rice (fluffy rice, not so much -- although, I admit that I have not dabbled too much into the casserole method described).
useful (0)
Basic Bulgur : page 161
This uses the glass casserole technique. I was very happy with the result. The bulgar came out fluffy and well-cooked but still chewy. I added some optional flavoring options (raw garlic, sliced onions, spices), and this method helped to infuse the bulgar with flavor.
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Black Bean Chili : page 192
This is a pretty basic recipe, but the fact that it can be made in 12 minutes under pressure makes it a standout. Creamy and comforting, this is one of my lunch-time staples. I love the addition of fennel seeds. More often than not, I will substitute roasted red bell pepper (add at the end) for the fresh since that's what I have on hand.
useful (1)
Cauliflower-Potato Curry : page 99
I have made both the original and the light versions of this. I didn't notice much difference with the light version, so that is my preference. The first time I made this, my spouse thought it was way too hot so I usually tone it down a bit. The main negative with this recipe is that I end up with a dried/burnt crust on the bottom of my pressure cooker that is difficult to remove without a lot of soaking. This recipe doesn't have a lot of liquid and I have an electric stove.
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Chickpea Soup Italiano : page 36
This soup smells amazing and tastes great too. It's on the lighter side with a very flavorful broth.
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Curried Split Pea Soup : page 46
I love the sweet variation of this soup (replace carrots with parsnips) combined with the suggested addition of beet greens. Instead of the green split peas called for, I make this with yellow split peas. For a split pea soup, it comes out rather lovely. Tastey too. As with most split pea soups, this one will firm up in the fridge so you'll need to add some water when reheating to make it more soup-like.
useful (1)
Date-Nut Couscous : page 247
Fortuitously, I happened upon a properly-sized heatproof bowl at a discount store on my way home from work today, and I also picked up some dates on sale from the grocery store with no clear plan for their use. Back home, I had some whole wheat couscous in the pantry and leftover brown rice in the fridge. Enter this recipe.
After my experience with the fig risotto, I made this thinking a make ahead breakfast. That in mind, I whirred up some rice and water (1:3 ratio) in my blender for the rice milk and added vanilla but no sweetener. I measured out a cup of dates and then chopped them, so the total used was about 2/3 cup.
Everything came together very easily, although I made the mistake of trying to add the water to my pressure cooker after placing the bowl inside. After the pressure came down (much faster than the 10 minutes listed), it was necessary to stir the couscous well as it had compacted in the bowl, but the result was delicious! I had forgetten about the unique sweetness of a date. The result is plenty sweet enough for a breakfast.
useful (2)
Fig-Hazelnut Risotto : page 251
Hmm... I'm not sure how to give this recipe a fair rating because I have not had a history of eating or making risotto, whether traditional or with a pressure cooker. I also made a few substitutions -- I used fennel instead of aniseed and almonds instead of hazelnuts. For the "milk," the author offers some choice. I went with half soy and half almond.
Postives - Mr. Snoopy and I agreed that this recipe smelled absolutely heavenly. Also, the rice came out al dente, which I understand to be the proper consistency for a risotto. (Personally, for a dessert, I would have preferred this a bit softer.) I liked the very subtle undertone of fennel, which I understand to be milder than aniseed.
Negatives - Mr. Snoopy thought the fig pieces looked like mushrooms (not an entirely baseless guess for a risotto). It would be worth trying to blend the dried fig in with the "milk" for a more refined appearance. Also, it just didn't taste rich and creamy enough for what one might expect of a dessert.
As a "special" breakfast, this is much more impressive.
useful (1)
Garlicky Wakame with Potatoes : page 112
Creamy, homey, comfort food... meets seaweed? I've been on a bit of a seaweed kick lately, so I decided it was time to try this recipe. It greatly surpassed my expectations. It's difficult to describe how good this was because it sounds so... weird. Somehow, the briny wakame elevated and enhanced the taste of the potatoes and balanced well with the sweet carrots and bell pepper.
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Gingered Adzuki-Squash Stew : page 189
This is a very worthy recipe that I've been making a lot lately since I usually have squash on hand and the great thing about adzukis is that they don't need to soak. But, I rated this down because the instructions are written for soaked adzukis. Instead, I add all of the ingredients except the squash and cook for about 18 minutes under pressure. I release the pressure, add the squash, and cook for 5 more minutes. If you are more organized than I am, by all means, try this the way it is written.
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Herbed Cauliflower Tomato Soup : page 58
This is a solid recipe. Pretty basic, versatile. In retrospect, I should have saved some florets for garnish as suggested. The cauliflower is the only source of creaminess. My spouse found it lacking in that regard. I liked it, though.
Edit: In retrospect, I decided to downgrade this to a two. I found myself dreading the leftovers, and I don't think I'll be making it again. There are better tomato soup recipes out there that can be adapted for the pressure cooker.
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Mint Pickled Beets : page 230
I'm so glad I tried this recipe. The seasoning on this wasn't my favorite, but the basic technique is top notch.
Although there was some slicing involved, this was still the least messy and most efficient way by far I've seen for making pickled beets. You slice the beets with the skins on and before they have been cooked. That makes a huge difference in the amount of beet juice going every which way in the kitchen. Plus, time under pressure is very short and the pickling liquid is used both for the cooking and the marinade.
I will definately be digging out some other recipes to adapt using this technique.
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New Mexican Pinto Bean Soup : page 42
I haven't made this in a while, but it used to be in my regular lunch soup rotation. There's no reason for it to have been dropped; it's a great main dish soup. I usually substitute jarred roasted red peppers for the red pepper (slice them up and add at the end after cooking) to make it a completely pantry soup (assuming you have frozen corn on hand as well).
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Oriental Eggplant Soup : page 61
I've made half or quarter batches of this soup several times to use up extra eggplant from other recipes. It is delicious. I would make this more often than I do except that it is more of a side dish soup than a main dish. I inevitably put in a lot of chili pepper flakes relative to the reduced batch size - good for clearing out the sinuses.
I ignore the instruction about a food mill and discarding the eggplant seeds.
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Sweet Potato Beet Puree : page 107
Pretty! Bright magenta with purple bits of beet. This had a nice orange flavor without the cloying sweetness of many sweet potato recipes. I was lazy and mashed this in the pot instead of pureeing, so my bits of beet were larger.
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Toasted Sesame Wild Rice : page 137
I used the "elegant" variation since I had some black sesame seeds on hand. The taste wasn`t anything special (it's pretty much just rice, after all; I did not add the optional sesame oil) but the texture was good - cooked through but chewy. The main effect of the sesame seeds was to turn it black. I used the high amount of water because I was concerned about sticking and that turned out to be the right amount. All in all, this made a nice base to an Asian-flavored grain salad so I was happy with it.
Edit: I added two pictures: 1). The rice salad I made with this recipe as an ingredient; 2). The actual rice produced.
Edit: I originally rated this a 3, but I've decided to promote this recipe to a 5. I've seen a number of stuffed vegetable recipes calling for forbidden rice, and I think this variation would make a teriffic lower cost and easier to find alternative. Pressure cooking makes a sticker rice which is desireable for those types of recipes, so I see myself making this more in the future.
useful (1)