Instant Pot Beef Luau Stew

I've had success with slowly converting all the local Hawaii dishes that I cook via stovetop to the Instant Pot. A few weeks ago I conquered a beef luau stew. It's Hawaiian beef stew made with luau leaves (taro leaves) and coconut milk. Normally this takes me a few hours to cook on the stove in order to get the meat tender and to cook the fresh leaves properly. Not cooking down the leaves properly results with you experiencing an itchy throat when eating it. Here's my mock up recipe that I just typed up 😉👍🏼. 

INGREDIENTS:

Luau leaves (taro leaves) stems & fibrous veins removed

8 cups water

Hawaiian salt

3 lb chuck roast 

1/2 onion

2 tbsp minced garlic

4 cups chicken broth 

2 cans coconut milk

Salt & pepper to taste 

DIRECTIONS:

PART I:

Cleaned and cut off stems of luau leaves. Chop leaves and add to pot with 8 cups water. Sprinkle some Hawaiian salt and push leaves into water. Cook on manual for 15 min. Let NPR for 10, then quick release. Drain leaves.  I ended up doing two cooking batches of the leaves since I didn't want to overflow the pot. 

PART 2:

Cut chuck roast into big chunks. Sauté meat with coconut oil. Add sliced onions, garlic, 4 cups chicken broth, and cooked luau leaves. Stir to incorporate. Cancel sauté and cook on Meat/Stew for 25 min. Let NPR for 10 min, then quick release. Cancel keep warm and hit sauté. Add two cans of coconut milk and stir.  Season to taste. Enjoy!

Instant Pot Pork & Tabungao (Opo Squash)

I make this Filipino dish all the time over the stove. It's such comfort food for us and we like it soup like. When a make the Filipino Port Guisantes (Pork & Peas) a few weeks back in the Instant Pot, I knew I could do the same with this dish too. This too took only seven minutes cooking time (after pressurizing) in the IP when it normally takes about an hour total over the stovetop. 

Here's the recipe!

Instant Pot Pork & Tabungao (Opo Squash)

3 lbs chopped pork butt or shoulder

1/2 onion sliced

2 tbsp minced garlic

2 ripe tomatoes, chopped

2 medium sized tabungao (Opo squash), peeled and sliced

1/4 cup patis (fish sauce), 

1 cup chicken broth

2 cups chichiron (fried pork rinds), optional

1 cup dried shrimp, optional 

Black pepper to season 

Oil

Directions:

Sauté pork, onion, garlic, and oil in the Instant Pot for about 5 minutes. Cancel sauté. Add chicken broth, patis, and squash. Mix well. Seal lid and be sure valve is on sealing. Hit meat button and adjust time to 7 minutes. When done let it NPR (normal pressure release) for 10 minutes, then do a QR (quick release) of the valve. Remove lid, turn off IP, and hit sauté. Add tomatoes, dried shrimp, chichiron, and black pepper. Mix well and let cook till last remaining ingredients are soft. Taste broth and add more patis if needed to your preference. 

MANGAN TAYON!