Crimini Mushroom and Vegetable Medley served with Jade Pearl Rice with Coconut Curry Tempeh (No Added Fat)

My wife was out and my daughter was hungry, so I made a quick dinner for her (leftover South Indian food from a restaurant). That freed me up to use some hot chili pepper for tonight's cooking for my visiting Dad and my wife and me. I had some crimini mushrooms and wondered what they would taste like pressure cooked; 3m is a time many vegetables take to be pressure cooked, so I thought I'd try that.

Before I detail what I did tonight, I wanted to describe a fun dessert that my daughter and I made earlier in the day. As I described on June 29 and 18, I tried out a local company, Purple Carrot, who distributes healthful vegan meal recipes and ingredients. I hope that they will in fact make it as we'd probably subscribe.

There was a third recipe of theirs that I had and only today made, chocolate chip and coconut energy bites. The "bites" came out well but, even better, I love the blog that it comes from, Paint + Tofu.  It's an intriguing name with some great recipes and discussion! Anyway, on to dinner.

Ingredients

• Carrot cut into 1/4" pieces
• Baby broccoli bunch, stems cut into 1/4" pieces and crown area simply halved
• 1 scallion (green onion) cut into 3/8" pieces
• 8 ounces crimini (also known as baby bella, but regular white can also be used) mushrooms, cut into 1/2" pieces
• (optional) 1 small hot chili pepper cut into quarters
• Vegan bouillon cube
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 t black salt (kala namak), or any other kind of salt

Process

1. I put all the ingredients except the salt into the Instant Pot pressure cooker and cooked on high pressure for 3 minutes.
2. I let the pressure cooker come down in temperature then removed the top, mixed in the salt, removed the chili pepper (I knew it would be hot so had cut into large chunks so that I could easily remove at this point), and served.

I also made jade pearl rice by simmering for 20m the rice with 1 1/2 times as much water and a vegan bouillon cube. When done, I mixed in a scallion cut into 1/4" pieces, 3 ounces of marinated coconut curry tempeh (it comes in a 7 ounce packet of slices; I cut the slices into 5/8" squares) and a little bit of soy sauce, and served.

Results

Dinner was very good! The rice was excellent. The marinated tempeh, uncooked and just heated, went quite well with the rice. Regular tempeh, preferably browned, would be good; uncooked regular tempeh could work, but I'd cut it in smaller chunks and use less. The main course was good and I liked the very nice treatment, like roasting but keeping the moisture in, that the mushrooms received.

By the way, the marinated tofu comes in at 3g of fat per half package. I used less than a half package, and made 3 servings, so I feel justified in calling this a no-added-fat meal.

Ideas for the future

I think that even less water could be used in the pressure cooker. I liked the main course but wonder if something else could have been added - perhaps some corn kernels or zucchini? The rice is a winner!