Use Instant Porridge Setting for Creamy (Mostly) Carefree Polenta
Some dishes are simply not designed for the greatness of the Instant Pot, especially those that draw their magic from constant stirring and slow, controlled fluid recovery. While I’m afraid there isn’t a damn good French Onion Soup recipe, I think I’ve finally cracked the polenta code.
Polenta, so simple on paper, makes up a truly disproportionate amount of recordings in my personal Hall of Shame in the kitchen. This Lifehacker-approved method is great for people who are fully cognitive before 9am, but since mine is still circling over the metaphorical toilet at this hour, I never forget. So I’m committed to Marcella Hazan’s (mostly) no stirring method , which works great but still takes about an hour. Instant Pot polenta recipes reduce cooking time, but vary greatly, with high pressure cooking times ranging from seven to 30 minutes. After trying many of them, I came to the conclusion that they tend to “cook” polenta only in the most literal sense of the word. These recipes produce polenta, which is rarely crispy, but the bottom of the pot is scorched every time, resulting in an unevenly cooked and lumpy one. When you blithely ignore the very real limitations of the machine – in this case, the lack of a shuffle function in the Instant Pot – everyone suffers.
Since the machine cannot stir for you, it follows that you, the human, must be the stirrer, and you must stir before sealing your Instant Pot. The good news is that the machine can do everything a closed pot on the stove can do in half the speed, so Marcella’s no-stir method is easily adaptable to Instant Pot. Here’s how to do it:
- Boil a kettle of water and, using the Instant Pot Volume Graduation, pour 3½ to 4 cups of water for each cup of dry polenta you use. Measure out polenta ( not for quick cooking!) While you wait. (You can also boil water directly in the instant pot using the fry function, I just find the kettle works faster.)
- Gradually pour the polenta into the water in a thin stream, stirring continuously with a whisk or long-handled spoon.
- Continue whisking or stirring the polenta for about a minute, then add a large pinch of salt and close the lid. Select the function “Porridge” and using the “Configure” button select “More” – polenta needs these 10 extra minutes. Leave while he does his job.
- If you can, try to relieve the pressure in a completely natural way, but let it decrease for about 10 minutes and manually release everything else. Stir your favorite dairy products vigorously and serve.
This method works for two reasons: agitation and delayed application of pressure. Stirring polenta in near-boiling water for a full minute will immediately break down the starch, which adds a creamy finish and helps prevent bottom pinching. The porridge function will do the rest: postponing part of the high pressure cooking cycle until the polenta has been immersed in super-hot (230 ° F or 110 ° C) water for about 8 minutes, it will continue the work you started with all that stirring – and ends in record time. Go and enjoy polenta on weekdays, my friends; you deserve it.