Brussels Sprouts Risotto

* If you don't own a pressure cooker: Pour about a teaspoon of olive oil in a medium saucepan placed over medium-high heat (or you can use 1/4 cup veggie broth or enough to cover the bottom of the pot and bring to a simmer). Add rice, and stir until rice is thoroughly coated with oil or veg broth. Next, add that veggie broth to the saucepan in 1/3 cup increments, stirring constantly until rice has absorbed the broth. Then add 1/3 cup more broth and stir once again until rice has absorbed the broth.

Continue in this manner in 1/3 cup increments until you have added 3 cups total broth. Add the remaining 1/2 cup broth and the Brussels. Lower heat, cover, and cook until Brussels are very tender, about 10 minutes. Remove cover and stir until rice and Brussels are both very tender. Add more liquid if needed. Then follow Step 2 above.

Question: Your Vegan Brussels Sprouts Risotto was a hit! Both my husband and I enjoyed the creamy rice dish. Thank goodness there are leftovers - YUM!

I have a few questions about the instructions. I have not used my Instant Pot much and am a bit intimidated by it. Therefore, would you please explain the following:

1. How did you get the veggie broth to "boil in the pressure cooker"?
2. How do you bring it to "high heat'?
3. Then, "how do you lower heat to retain pressure and cook for 5 minutes"? (Believe it or not, I did know how to "Quick release the cooker"!)

Thank you for your wonderful ideas on the website. It has been easier than I thought to go vegan. Even when I venture over to other web sites, I always find myself right back at "VeganCoach" due to ALL the helpful information, recipes, comments from you, Jeff, and Janie, and the positive encouragement! -- Sharon H.

Sassy Sez:: Hi Sharon! So good to hear from you! And I'm happy to know you guys enjoyed the risotto. Oh, I know what you mean. It's so delectable. I would eat it every day if I could -- but I have too many other yummy dishes to make! :) :)

To your questions...

1. How did you get the veggie broth to "boil in the pressure cooker"?

I used a stovetop pressure cooker for that recipe, but you can do the same exact thing in an electric cooker (which is what the Instant Pot is).

What we want to do is pretend the heating element of your cooker is like a stovetop. So you'll put the water/veg broth in the base of your IP pot and choose the Sauté button -- you can even click it a couple times to adjust the temperature to MORE (high). It will beep a few times after it THINKS about what you want to do. And it will then turn ON automatically.

2. How do you bring it to "high heat'?

With stovetop cookers, everything is done manually. So you have to wait for a "button" or other visual signal to get to a certain point (high heat) before you lower the heat of the stovetop burner and start a timer to count the 5 minutes. (That's what's meant by that instruction to "lower heat to retain pressure and cook for 5 minutes").

Electric cookers do ALL the work for you! Much easier...

So once you get that water/veg broth boiling as described above, add the remaining ingredients.

Now, it's time to let it do it's pressure cooker thang.

So go ahead and lock that lid into place. And...

...here's what you need to do with the Instant Pot:

• Choose the Pressure Cook button.
• Be sure the release handle thingy at the top is set to Sealing.
• Click the Pressure Level until HIGH is chosen.
• Use the + or - buttons to adjust the time you want to cook (in this case 5 minutes).
• Now, wait. It will beep a few times after it THINKS about what you want to do. And it will then turn ON automatically.
• It will beep once when high pressure is reached. You'll also notice the little silver button inlaid into the lid just to the right of the release handle will have raised up.
• After it finishes that cook time (again, in this case 5 minutes) it will again beep a few times.
• If you let it sit, the pressure will come down naturally. But if you want to QUICK RELEASE then you hit the Cancel button and CAREFULLY WITHOUT YOUR FINGERS IN THE WAY (!) move that release handle on top to VENTING. Don't be afraid! It will then get all hot and bothered as it quickly releases that hot steam from the cooker. Again, stay out of the way of this because it can and will burn you.
• When all pressure is released the little silver button inlaid into the lid just to the right of the release handle will be all the way back down. Now, you can safely open your cooker. And don't worry, your cooker has a built-in safety in place so you can't open your cooker until the pressure is all the way down.   ;)