Instant Pot Orange Chicken (Pot-in-Pot)

Instant Pot Orange Chicken 

Intended to be cooked PIP (pot-in-pot).

Ingredients:
1 pound chicken, diced (3 - 4 breasts, or 4 - 5 thighs)
1 medium onion, quartered
2 - 4 cups chopped fresh vegetables
1 tsp salt & pepper
Rice
Sauce ingredients: 
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 large cloves garlic
2 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon minced ginger
3 tablespoons corn starch + water (for thickening later as needed)
Sugar/honey/agave to sweeten (optional)
Items Needed:
6-quart or 8-quart Instant Pot
Oven safe (stainless steel) bowl or PIP pan large enough to hold all the ingredients, but small enough to fit in side your instant pot with room to spare around the edges for steam to escape.
Trivet
A sling (my trivet has a built in sling)
Rice cooker (not required, it just makes this busy momma's life easier)

Instructions:

• Mix sauce ingredients together in an oven safe bowl that fits inside your instant pot.  Make sure it's big enough to hold all the ingredients.  This is your cooking pot. Taste test prior to adding the raw chicken to the sauce to ensure that it is to your liking.  Add sweetener as needed.
• Dice the chicken up and roll around in the sauce till all pieces are covered
• Place quartered onion on top of the raw chicken that's been rolled in the orange sauce in the (Pot-in-Pot) PIP bowl. 
  **  You could add the "heat resistant" vegetables (water chestnuts, bamboo, onions, bell pepper, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, carrots, celery) to the top of the bowl at this point if you wanted
  
• You can cook your rice at the same time as the chicken mixture if you choose, as long as you have a size appropriate PIP pan to do it in. The ratio of water to rice is 1:1, and rice doubles, so 1 cup of uncooked rice = 2 cups cooked rice.
  
• Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes using the trivet & 1 cup of water (if using 6qt) or 2 cups of water (if using 8qt or just want to be sure you have enough steam).
  
• If you have chosen to not cook it all in one pot, start your rice elsewhere.  I use a rice cooker because it simplifies my life and I can cook twice as much chicken mixture. 
  
• Natural Pressure Release (NPR) for 10 minutes to allow the juice to settle into the meat and to prevent the meat from being "shocked". 
  ** Shocked meat causes a tough, rubbery consistency.
  
• Stir the contents of the bowl to ensure even sauce distribution, pour the fresh veggies on top and either reseal on low pressure for 2 minutes (for frozen), or allow the residual heat from the meat mixture to cook the fresh broccoli.
  
• Once the time has completed, give it 2 minutes of NPR then enjoy by putting it over rice.

Notes:

Rice: 

• Remember when cooking rice that the cooked quantity will be double the dry quantity. (1 cup dry = 2 cups cooked)
• When using a rice cooker, or the stove top, or any method that allows water to evaporate as it cooks, the rice to water ratio is 1 cup rice to 1.5 cups water (1:1.5)
• When using a pressure cooker to cook your rice, or any method that does NOT allow for water evaporation, the ratio is 1 cup rice to 1 cup water (1:1)

Vegetable suggestions:  Water chestnuts, bamboo, carrots, celery, mushrooms, sugar snap peas, bell pepper, broccoli.  All of these will stand up to heat well except the broccoli.

• Broccoli is tricky at times. I usually cook it 1 of 3 ways.
  1) Use a steamer tray, or a tall legged trivet with instant pot steamer basket in my rice cooker while the rice is cooking.
  2) Microwave it
  3) Steam it on low pressure using the steamer basket in the Instant Pot. Low pressure 2 minutes, or 0 minutes under high pressure.   
• Bamboo will absorb any flavors that are around it, as well as adding to the flavors, so if you want super orange bamboo, put it in the sauce.  If you simply want that bamboo flavor, don't mix it in till afterward.
• Bell peppers, celery and mushrooms will produce liquid when cooked

The photo is not mine.  I have used it to illustrate what the dish SHOULD look like, but I have not had the chance to take photos of my actual food.  Photo belongs to:  Siam Orchid Thai Restaurant

Meatballs with Instant Pot or Oven directions

Meatballs

Ingredients: 
1 & 1/2 pounds lean hamburger, ground pork or ground chicken
1/2 tsp salt & pepper
2 eggs
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 tsp minced garlic & onion
1/2 tsp sage
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Instructions:

• Shape into palm sized balls.  
• Bake in oven until browned, using a drip pan at 350*F for approximately 15-minutes
• Or in an Instant Pot using a trivet (or multiple stacked trivets) cooking at high pressure for 10 minutes.
• Enjoy. 
• Can be used multiple ways. 

Optional uses are:  Sweet & sour anything, spaghetti & meatballs, mini meatloafs (adding barbeque sauce or something similar to the top)...

Instant Pot Sweet & Sour Anything

Instant Pot Sweet & Sour Anything

Makes approximately 12 servings.
Owned by my mother and rewritten with permission.

Recipe can be make either PIP (Pot-in-pot) or directly in the liner.  It's your personal preference. 

Ingredients:

• 1 can Chicken broth + 2 table spoons chicken base (like bouillon or better than bouillon)
• 3-5 cups meat, diced
• 1 green pepper (optional)
• 1 onion, chopped (or approximately 1 tablespoon dried minced or granulated onion) 
• 1 can chunked pineapple, juice reserved to be measured out and added later
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic or 2 teaspoons dried granulated garlic
• 3/4 cup white vinegar or rice vinegar
• 3/4 cup pineapple juice (drained from can; add water to reach quantity of liquid)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 medium tomatoes, chunked, or 1 package of grape tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons corn starch + water for thickening later

Instructions:

1. Layer the ingredients, in order, except the corn starch & tomatoes.  Do not stir.
   
   (PIP it doesn't matter if you stir or not, or what order you put the food in, just make sure you have a large enough bowl to hold everything, but is still small enough to fit into your Instant Pot liner with space to allow the steam to circulate, a trivet in the bottom of the liner, and a minimum of 1 cup of water in the bottom of the liner).
2. Place lid on pot and lock into place.  Set for 10 (ten) minutes high pressure.   Allow 10 minutes natural pressure release to allow the juices to settle into the meat then do a quick pressure release.  While the chicken etc. is cooking, make your corn starch slurry for thickening.
3. After opening the pot, place the tomatoes in, place the lid on the pot, lock it & set it to "saute" for a few minutes till tomatoes have warmed.
      
4. Thicken by turning on the saute' function, get it boiling and slowly pouring in the corn starch & water while stirring. Be careful, if you get it too thick it might splatter up.  If you pour too fast it will create lumps. 
5. Once it's thickened to your liking, serve over rice & enjoy.

Optional additions:  

• 1 tablespoon ginger (I use dried, fresh will give you a much stronger hit of spices)
• 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce 
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce 

*  This recipe works with multiple types of meat.  Choices include:  Chicken, Pork, Meatballs, Shrimp, Beef.

**  Recipe was originally for the stovetop and was rewritten for the IP by me

*** Meat can be rolled in flour & fried on the stove prior to pressure cooking, and the drippings and crunchy bits added into the gravy mix prior to pressure cooking but be aware the breading tends to thicken the juice a bit & you have to add more liquid, so I have chosen to omit this step because I don't care for how it changes the consistency of the gravy and the extra step involved. 

****  Photo gotten from google to demonstrate what it should look like when completed.  Will ETA when I have a recent photo of my own food.