Instant Pot Shoyu Chicken

About a month ago my brother came in from Seattle for a visit be had been curious on how my Instant Pot works since I had been posting about it on Facebook. He was pretty amazed that I could cook a local Hawaii favorite is Shoyu Chicken in less than half the time over the stove. This batch I made in the IP took only 8 minutes since it was a mixture of bone in chicken thighs and drumsticks. I had thought I had grabbed a tray of all bone in thighs at the store but this worked out really well. I later cooked a tray of all bone in thighs for a different dish and found I had to cook it in the IP for 12 minutes. 

So depending on what cut of chicken you are using, you will have to adjust the cooking time. This recipe will be based on what I have done so far. 

Here's the recipe. 

INSTANT POT SHOYU CHICKEN

Ingredients:

1 tray of chicken thighs and drumsticks

1 cup shoyu (Aloha Brand preferred)

1 cup water

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

Few slices of ginger 

Coconut oil or preference

Chopped green onion

Cornstarch and water for slurry

Directions:

Sautéed chicken thighs and drumsticks in coconut oil and set aside. Deglazed the bits with water, shoyu, added sliced ginger, and brown sugar. Added the chicken, cancel sauté, and hit chicken for 8 minutes. NPR 8 minutes and then QR. I removed chicken, hit sauté to thicken sauce with cornstarch and water and added chopped green onion. Placed chicken back to pot. Enjoy!

Instant Pot Pork Adobo

Made another favorite Filipino dish in the IP the other night called Pork Adobo. Which is pork simmered in vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic. It turned out so yummy! Yummier than when I cook it over the stove top. My own adapted recipe as follows:

INGREDIENTS:

3-4 lb. pork butt or shoulder cut into large cubes

1 cup soy sauce 

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1-2 tbsp minced garlic

3-4 bay leaves 

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp oregano (optional, hubby just likes to add this) 

Coconut oil or your preference

DIRECTIONS: 

Sauté pork with some oil for about 5 minutes. Add remainder of ingredients and mix. Cancel sauté and hit meat adjust time to 25 minutes. Be sure valve is at sealing. Let NPR for 10 minutes and then QR. Serve over hot rice. Enjoy!

**I failed to mention that since I did use a pork butt that was kinda fatty, there was lots of oil after it was done. I just used a slotted spoon to drain the fat upon eating. When I stored the leftovers overnight, I just scraped out the solidified fat in the morning and it was less oily.**

Instant Pot Pork and Peas

Ever since I got my new Instant Pot, I've been on a mission to convert local favorites done over the stovetop. So far they have been a success and it's allowing me to get the wheels turning in my head on how to adapt to the IP. 

I can't tell you how much faster it takes to cook and about the tenderness of the meat in the IP. The faster cooking time is what really helps me when we're shuffling in between multiple activities for the family. 

Sometime last week I managed to cook Filipino pork and peas (guisantes) in the IP. This turned out as another keeper in the IP rotation menu. Here is the recipe as follows. 

PORK AND PEAS (GUISANTES)

Another stove top to IP conversion a success! I made a Filipino dish called Pork Guisantes (Pork and Peas) which is pork in a tomato base sauce with frozen peas and pimientos. I just winged it based on my recent IP practice cooking and it went a little something like this...

Ingredients:

2 lbs chopped pork (I used pork shoulder)

1 can chicken broth

1/2 onion chopped

2 tbsp minced garlic 

1-12oz can tomato paste 

1 bag frozen sweet peas

2 small jars diced pimientos

1/3 cup Patis (fish sauce)

3-4 bay leaves (I didn't out any since I didn't realize I was out of them)

Salt and pepper 

Directions:

Sauté pork, onions, and garlic for about 5 minutes. Add chicken broth, tomato paste, and patis. Stir to incorporate. Cancel sauté and hit meat. Adjust time to 7 minutes. NPR for 10 min, then QR. Remove lid. Add frozen peas, pimientos, and S&P to season. Stir. 

Now for this part you could let it simmer on sauté at low temp to let the frozen peas to cook through OR pressure cook for 1 minute. I chose the latter just to experiment since this was my first time make this particular dish in the IP. I placed the lid back on and set it for 1 minute on manual. Then did about 8 min NPR and QR. It ended up working out perfectly! Season more if you like to your preference and enjoy over hot rice. MANGAN TAYON (Let's Eat!)!