Pressure cookers are amazingly useful kitchen appliances that can dramatically expand your vegan cooking possibilities. If you cook beans often, or live in a place with long winters, you should strongly consider purchasing one.
Dried beans that might take more than two hours to cook on a stove-top can be ready in about 40 minutes in a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers are also ideal for cooking classic Indian bean dishes like chana masala or dal soups made from split yellow peas.
What’s more, pressure cookers can handle more than just beans. They can perfectly cook foods like potatoes, squash, and other root vegetables in just minutes.
Many cooks use their pressure cookers for only one or two dishes, which is a real shame because this appliance opens the door to so many quick and convenient meals. To get acquainted with the variety of meals a pressure cooker can churn out, check out Jill Nussinow’s Vegan Under Pressure and JL Fields’ Vegan Pressure Cooking.
You can certainly get by without owning a pressure cooker. But if you purchase one you’ll probably end up wondering how you ever lived without it.
Types of Pressure Cookers
There are two main sorts of pressure cookers: stove-top units and countertop models.
I don’t think it makes sense to purchase a stove-top unit. Countertop models are safer and also far more versatile. Instant Pots are the most popular brand. The Instant Pot IP-DUO60 is a fantastic choice that’s packed with every conceivable feature.
Not only do Instant Pots and similar brands handle pressure cooking, they do from five to ten other tasks. They are excellent at cooking rice, steaming vegetables, and even culturing soy yogurt. Since these appliances have a digital interface, they do exactly what you want and then automatically shut off when finished.
For further reading: please see our recommended cookware and our vegan cooking pages.
