I cook potatoes alone. I do put them in a steamer basket.
Does putting the potatoes in a steamer basket above everything else and pressure cooking it all at once work or does it need to be done completely separately?
I've tried making aloo keema twice now, and both times the IP hasn't liked the potatoes. The first attempt I pressure cooked everything except the potatoes first, which worked fine, then added the potatoes at the end and set it to pressure cook for a couple more minutes, but then just took forever to pressurise and got a food burn error. It came out alright but the potatoes were undercooked of course.
The second time I tried adding the potatoes in with everything else and a bit of water so it would only have to pressurise once and hopefully would have enough liquid to pressurise properly without burning. But again, before it pressurised I got a food burn error, and the mixture was still as liquid-y as most things I cook in it but the potatoes were undercooked and hard and chewy.
Has anyone had this issue with cubed potatoes before and been able to fix it? It seems like it gets hot enough to cook everything else but the potatoes are just stubborn. Any advice for more seasoned cooks would be much appreciated, thanks all!
I cook potatoes alone. I do put them in a steamer basket.
Does putting the potatoes in a steamer basket above everything else and pressure cooking it all at once work or does it need to be done completely separately?
I imagine the potatoes are soaking up your liquid and so you need to add more liquid with the potatoes.
That makes sense, it would mean leaving it on sauté or keep warm for a good while afterwards to boil off the liquid and thicken the sauce though right?
What is your cook time? I cook potatoes and some other stuff for my dog and I always cook them for 15 minutes.
For the also keema it's maybe ten minutes, but the cook time isn't really an issue since it fails to pressurise anyway. Weirdly something about having cubed potatoes in there makes the IP unable to pressurise despite getting hot enough for a burn error
You need steam to pressure cook, adding potatoes at the end might need a simmer instead if you do not have enough liquid
Are you adding enough water?
This has been like 99% of the cause of my bad results!
Yeah, the “bit of water” comment concerned me. There needs to be water to work!
Make sure you are on high not low pressure
I wasn't familiar with Aloo Keema so I had to look up a recipe. Tomatoes are notorious for causing the BuRN error.
If the IP was the only cooking method I had access to, I'd probably do the following.
Were you following a recipe or winging it? I’ve made loads of Korean recipes with cubed potatoes and they’re fine. I found you a quick recipe for comparison. Maybe follow their measurements for liquids and volume and you’ll have better luck even if you adjust spices to your taste. https://www.teaforturmeric.com/easy-instant-pot-keema/
I have a favorite recipe that includes potatoes. I cut them into chunks about 1-2" x 3/4 - 1". I cook them on high pressure with several other ingredients for about 9 minutes and then I do a 5 minute manual release. They come out fully cooked and just starting to get mushy on the outsides ( I do this on purpose to help thicken the liquid). If I add more ingredients and need to increase the cook time a few minutes, I always make the potato chunks thicker so they don't get too mushy. If you want to cook something for a shorter time, then make the potato slices smaller.
How are you cooking them? in a steamer basket, pot in pot or something else?
For my beef stew I cook the cubed potatoes 3-4 minutes in the microwave while I prepare the other ingredients. If I don't do this, the potato cubes in the stew seem undercooked.