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Vegan Black Bean Curry for the Instant Pot

I bought an Instant Pot a couple of months ago and it is an ongoing process to learn its functions and how to adapt recipes. While recipes abound online I am limited to a vegetarian/vegan sampling and must adapt recipes to suit my needs and my family's tastes. This recipe is an example of finding a good recipe online and adapting it to what is on hand and our specific desires. The original recipe is: Black Bean Curry

The prep and cook time has been changed for use with dried black beans and my Instant Pot. I find the more I use it, the better I like the prep, start, and walk away ease an Instant Pot allows.

My initial cook was for the beans and then a second pressure cook with the ingredients added. I find the beans cook more consistently without added spice, etc. when cooked alone. 

VEGAN BLACK BEAN CURRY

MY ADAPTED INGREDIENTS LIST with Instant Pot instructions


STAGE ONE

Pressure cook on High for 30 minutes:

2 CUPS Dry Black Beans

4 CUPS Water

Then slow or fast release the pressure.


STAGE TWO

Add the following ingredients

and pressure cook on HIGH for 15 minutes.

1 chopped onion, large

4 TSP Minced Garlic

1 TBSP Ginger Paste

2 TSP Biryani Masala Blend

1 TSP ground Cumin

1/2 TSP ground Coriander

1 TSP Turmeric

Scant 1/4 TSP Cayenne Powder

14 oz (1 can) crushed Tomato (see notes below)

3 Maggi Vegetable Bouillon Cubes

3/4 - 1 TSP Table Salt, to taste

1/4 TSP ground Black Pepper

1 CAN (14 oz) of coconut milk

2 TBSP of regular sugar

Slow or fast release

Black Bean Curry with a side of Basmati Rice
I found the Beans great without the rice. My husband preferred the rice option.

Let's look at the ingredients and the changes I made from the original recipe:

  • STAGE ONE FOR INSTANT POT
  • 4 ½ cups Canned Black Beans (3 Cans, Drained)
    • *I used 2 cups of dry black beans in 4 cups of water. Pressure cook 30 minutes on HIGH, slow release or fast release is fine.

  • STAGE TWO FOR INSTANT POT 
  • Add these ingredients and stir well. Pressure cook for 15 minutes on HIGH, slow release or fast release is fine.

  • 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil 
    • *I did not add olive oil because I did not saute anything. I just added the ingredients in two stages to the Instant Pot and walked away.
  • 1 Medium Onion White, Yellow or Brown, Chopped
    • *I used a large sweet yellow onion
  • 4 Cloves Garlic Crushed
    • *I used 4 TSP minced garlic. 
    • My minced garlic in a jar is quick and easy to use. (WM GV Minced garlic in water)
  • 1 Tablespoon Fresh Ginger Minced
    • *I used Swad Ginger Paste which can be found online or at Asian groceries and, rarely, at a few retailers. It is cheaper by the ounce in the jar than the squeeze tube versions found in most produce sections.
  • 2 teaspoons Garam Masala
    • *I do not like the Cinnamon element in garam masala which, IMO, overwhelms the other spices. Instead, I use Indian Biryani Masala Seasoning Spice. Normally I buy this at Dekalb Farmers Market, Cherians, or Patel Brothers in different packaging but my health has kept me housebound for a while now. It is available online and a staple of many of my Indian dishes.  If you keep a well stocked spice larder, recipes on making masala seasonings can be found online. But I find the ease of prepared masala blends convenient.
  • 1 teaspoon Cumin ground
  • ½ teaspoon Ground Coriander
  • 2 teaspoons Turmeric
    • *Turmeric has a tendency to add too much bitterness so I reduced this to 1 TSP Turmeric. It is now easy to find in a store brand at WM.
  • ¼ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
    • *I go light on the cayenne lately so I opted for 1 scant TSP
  • 14 ounces Crushed Tomato (400g)
    • *Due to price per ounce I keep the large 28 oz petite diced store brand tomatoes on hand now. I pureed a can in my blender and measured out 14oz (1+3/4 CUP) for this recipe.
  • 2 cups Vegetable Stock (480ml) or Vegetable Broth
    • This is where it got tricky. I was using the instant pot which keeps the original 4 cups of water with the dry beans, losing very little of the fluid. Initially I used 2 Maggi Bouillon Cubes, the kind that require 1 cup of water per cube. When it finished cooking I felt that wasn't enough and added 1 extra crushed cube to the hot pot.
  • ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
    • *Again, this did not seem like enough when I tasted it and added 1/2 TSP Table salt. This is where personal preference and dietary needs come into play.
  • ¼ teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
  • 1 cup Heavy Cream
    • I can not handle dairy so I substituted 1 CAN of coconut milk. The one cup amount was not enough creaminess to replace the heavy cream so I opted for the entire 14 oz can.
  • 1 Tablespoon Coconut Sugar
    • *I don't have coconut sugar so I used 2 TBSP of regular sugar. Why double it? It just seemed to need it. I've gone to a lot of Indian buffets and a version of this has been on many so I knew what it needed to taste like.
  • 1 cup Cilantro Chopped
    • It might have been nice for a topping but I didn't have any


    • ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    • NO INSTANT POT, but you want my vegan option...
    • If you do not have an Instant Pot and have only canned beans, you can adapt my recipe by reversing the process. Saute the onions and then add the spice and then add the canned beans and stock in the original inspiration recipe. Reserve the coconut milk until last
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