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6 - 10 mins
15/12/2025
Beginners trying their hands in the flavourful realm of Indian cuisine will find the Instant Pot to be the perfect tool. It takes soaking, simmering, and temperature control out of the cooking process, so you can confidently whip up rich rajma masala, dal and chicken biryani. These three classic set-it-and-forget recipes prove that convenience does not imply sacrificing taste. It's a real lifesaver when it comes to easy, substantial, and tasty weekday meals.
After a long day at the office, the last thing you feel like doing is washing all those pots and pans to make dinner. Now that we live in the Instant Pot age, we can boil dal and watch our favourite Netflix shows at the same time and prepare biryani in real time as we watch Reels. This isn’t only about ease; it’s about bringing the cosiness of a restaurant right to your sofa, without the effort. Yes, it really is that simple!
For all the couch potatoes or newbie cooks out there, here are three easy “set-it-and-forget-it” recipes to make whenever you are hungry yet don’t want to spend much time in the kitchen.
Are you a fan of the thick, creamy rajma you get at a Punjabi restaurant or make at home? Instead of soaking the beans overnight or boiling them for hours, you can whip up this kidney bean curry in an Instant Pot in about an hour.
To make this quintessential North Indian comfort dish, kidney beans are cooked in a tomato–onion sauce and served over rice. In the Instant Pot’s sauté mode, add the ginger–garlic paste, tomatoes, and spices (red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala, cumin). This will create the masala foundation. When cooked correctly, this foundation becomes what separates good rajma from great rajma. Thanks to modern conveniences, the meal is successful because it is both simple to make and quite filling. Finish it with a drizzle of butter and enjoy the comfort.
The idea of making biryani, with all its layers, timing, and seemingly unending stirring, can be daunting. Thanks to the Instant Pot, it becomes a marvel that only requires one pot. For a minimum of half an hour, coat 500 g of chicken with yoghurt, ginger-garlic paste, biryani masala, and red chilli powder. Brown the chicken in a skillet over medium heat; then remove from heat and put it aside. Arrange the chicken over a bed of half-cooked basmati rice (30 minutes to soak, 5 minutes to boil). Enhance it with saffron milk for its aromatic and colourful qualities, or garnish it with fried onions and mint for its textural appeal.
Biryani originated in Persia and made its way to India in the 1600s via the Mughal courts. From pakki (layered pre-cooked meat and rice) to kacchi (raw meat and raw rice cooked together), several forms emerged in Lucknow, Kolkata, and Hyderabad. The Instant Pot approach is the most similar to pakki biryani.
Dal tadka is truly the essence of traditional Indian home cuisine. It is a dish that means comfort, something that students dream of while studying abroad, and what you desire when you're sick. A tadka, or tempering, of spices cooked in ghee is added to the lentils after they are cooked until they are creamy. In the past, getting the right consistency has been a matter of trial and error: if you add too much water, it will be soupy; if you use too little, it will burn.
All guessing is removed with the Instant Pot. Cook the arhar dal (toor dal) for 12 minutes after rinsing it with 3 cups of water and a pinch of turmeric. The lentils simmer evenly in the confined environment, breaking down to a creamy consistency without becoming mushy. The procedure is gradually completed after 10 minutes of natural release.
Make the tadka while the dal simmers. Crackle the cumin seeds, dried red chillies, curry leaves, and ghee in a small pan over medium heat. Once the dal is cooked, add this tadka to give it flavour. Serve it with rice or naan and you’ll understand the magic of this Instant Pot recipe.
While chicken biryani, dal tadka, and rajma masala are some of the best Indian meals that the Instant Pot can make, it can handle a number of others. You can make the ideal chole (chickpea curry) in only 25 minutes. The customary overnight simmering of paya (goat trotters) takes about 45 minutes. For a perfectly cooked dessert, you can make kheer (rice pudding).
The Instant Pot won't take the place of more conventional techniques, but on weekdays, it offers options that are flavourful and don't waste time.
When using thick components such as tomato paste or coconut milk, layering them rather than stirring them helps avoid the "Burn" mistake. The proper order of components is as follows: thin liquid (broth or water), major ingredients (rice, lentils), and thick sauces (not mixed in) on top. After that, cover the pot and let it cook for a while.
Moreover, texture is all about mastering the release process. For creamy dishes like Dal Makhani, gentle depressurisation makes everything soft. On the other hand, if you're making precision-cooked foods like Biryani or Pulao, you may stop the cooking process instantly with the manual release to avoid overcooking or mushy rice.
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