Pressure Cooker Kareraisu (Pressure Cooker Japanese Curry)

Ingredients:

3 large onions, halved with each half cut into five wedges
1½ carrots, scraped and cut into bite-sized chunks
3 waxy potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp ginger (freshly-grated, with juice)
675g boneless, skinless chicken thighs
⅛ tsp sea salt
⅛ tsp freshly-ground black pepper

For the Curry Sauce:
1 tbsp neutral oil (for cooking)
750ml (3 cups) chicken stock
60g Japanese curry roux
1 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp soy sauce

To Serve:
6 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice
fukujinzuke (Japanese red pickled vegetables)

Method:

Soak the potato pieces in a bowl of water for 15 minutes to remove any excess starch.

Cut the chicken thighs into bite sized pieces (flatten these with a rolling pin or meat hammer so they cook quicker). Season the resultant chicken pieces with the sea salt and black pepper then set aside until needed.

If using a multi-cooker use the sauté function. If using a stove-top pressure cooker set over medium heat. Once the cooker is hot add 1 tbsp of oil. Once the oil is hot add the onion wedges, garlic and ginger (with any juice). Fry for a minute then add the chicken pieces and stir to coat in the oil.

Immediately add the carrots and potatoes, stirring well to combine. Pour over the chicken stock, then use a spatula to press down the meat and vegetables into the liquid. Now sit the Japanese curry roux on top of the other ingredients (I typically use 100g mild and 100g medium curry roux).Do not mix the roux into the other ingredients otherwise, the roux may sink to the bottom of the pot and burn while cooking. For solidified homemade roux, place the cubes on top of the ingredients and do not mix. For non-solidified homemade roux (that you just made), add it after pressure cooking is done.

Cover with the lid and lock this in place. Make sure the Instant Pot‘s steam release handle points to Sealing and not Venting. Press the Keep Warm/Cancel button on your electric pressure cooker to stop sautéing. Then, press the Meat/Stew button to switch to pressure cooking. Press the 'minus' button to change the cooking time to 15 minutes.

For a Stovetop Pressure Cooker: Close and lock the lid. Set the pressure level to high. Heat the pot on the stovetop over medium-high heat until you‘ve reached high pressure. Then, reduce the heat to medium low to maintain high pressure, and cook for 15 minutes.

When the curry has finished cooking, most electric pressure cookers or multi-cookers will switch automatically to the Keep Warm mode. Slide the steam release handle to Venting to let out steam until the float valve drops down, or, alternatively, let the pressure release naturally (this takes about 15 minutes).

Unlock, open and remove the lid. If using freshly-prepared homemade curry roux, add it to the pot now and heat on Sauté mode for an additional 5 minutes until well blended into the stew.

Add 1 the tbsp ketchup and 1 tbsp soy sauce at this point. Mix well, stirring to dissolve the curry roux and checking one last time that there are no undissolved chunks left. Taste the curry sauce at this point and add salt to your liking.

Divide your rice between six plates, spoon the curry on top and serve accompanied by fukujinzuke (Japanese red pickled vegetables).