Pressure cooker (or stovetop) pozole verde beef stew
What can I tell you? This Mexican-inspired green pozole beef stew zigged, and then it zagged, and in the end, it landed perfectly. In the first version I tried to incorporate a couple of cups of blue corn kernels, a gift from my friend Candy in Albuquerque. It turns out I should have pre-cooked the corn to soften it; the kernels remained hard and chewy long after the meat was tender. Hard, chewy, and a very odd blue-ish purple. In the second version, I used canned hominy, whole corn kernels that have been dried, then treated, so they look like little exploded puff balls of corn (you can buy canned hominy in the Spanish foods aisle of any supermarket). Just what this stew needed. And good as it was, it was even better the second day as the flavors deepened overnight.
One of my New Year's culinary resolutions is to learn more about pressure cooking and its possibilities. Thanks to a big nudge from my friend Kalyn, my electric pressure cooker has become not only a bean cooker (it's great for that), but a real kitchen tool. Whenever I get a recipe idea, I read other recipes, cookbooks and web sites to check cook times and suggested methods, and then I try and adapt that knowledge to the recipe I have in mind. Sometimes it doesn't work (the blue corn), and other times it does, as in this beef stew. It's a great way to learn.
Pressure cooker (or stovetop) pozole verde beef stew {gluten-free}
From the pantry, you'll need: ground cumin, garlic powder, kosher salt, fresh black pepper, cayenne, onion, garlic, green salsa, cornstarch, lime.
Serves 4.
Ingredients
1 lb stew beef (chuck roast), cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp fresh black pepper
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, to taste (use less if you don't like a lot of heat)
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
16 oz green salsa, storebought (I like Herdez brand) or homemade (mild to hot: your choice)
15-oz can white or yellow hominy (also called pozole), drained and rinsed
2 tsp cornstarch, mixed with 4 tsp water
Juice of 1 lime
Fresh cilantro, for garnish
Fresh avocado, for garnish (optional)
Directions
In a mixing bowl, combine the beef, cumin, garlic powder, salt, black pepper and cayenne. Mix well to distribute the spices to all pieces of the beef.
Place the beef in your pressure cooker (I use a 6-quart electric pressure cooker), and add the onion, garlic, salsa and hominy. Stir everything together. [Note: for stovetop cooking, do exactly the same thing. Add the beef and other ingredients to a Dutch oven, along with 1 cup of water or beef stock, and cook on low-medium heat for 1-1/4 hours. Check periodically, and add more stock or water if the sauce is reducing too quickly before the beef is cooked through. If the beef hasn't cooked through, cook for 15 minutes or as long as necessary.]
Lock the top of the pressure cooker and cook on HIGH PRESSURE for 22 minutes. Then, NATURAL PRESSURE RELEASE for 10 minutes, and Quick Release remaining pressure. Turn the pressure cooker off when the pressure valve drops.
Carefully open the lid. Set the pressure cooker to Sauté, and when the stew comes to a boil, stir in the cornstarch mixture. The stew will thicken slightly. Turn off the cooker.
Ladle the pozole into individual serving bowls. Garnish with a squirt of lime and some fresh cilantro. (If you wish, you could also add sliced radishes and avocado for garnish.)
Serve hot.
More pressure cooker beef stews:
Pressure cooker beef stew, from The Little Kitchen
Carne guisada (Latin beef stew), from Skinnytaste
Cantonese beef stew, from Rasa Malaysia
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This looks wonderful. My father loved Pozole, so he would have been crazy about this recipe.
Kalyn, like all stews, this one improved on the second day. But, like all stews, it didn't last longer than that in my house! I'm loving the way the pressure cooker handles stew, and experimenting with many of my older stew recipes (and creating new ones) for the different cooking method.
Oh, too bad, Lydia! Dried corn here in New Mexico is treated just like dried beans. They are soaked 8 hours and cooked until tender, then added to dishes. Dave just made a simple blue corn posole and it was amazing. Pressure cooking is not part of our practice, however, so I have no idea how to work with dried blue corn in that case. Your final product sounds fabulous!
Candy, if at first you don't succeed, try try again! And so I shall, as soon as I get more blue corn. I didn't presoak, and I'm sure that was the issue.
I made cowboy beans from dry beans in my pressure cooker in less than two hours. They were perfect.
When I make pork posole, I include a pound of chopped tomatillos and the liquid from the hominy. Tomatillos have a lot of pectin, so they thicken it's up nicely.
Lydia, if blue corn has to be soaked in water like dried beans, you could try the quick method for prepping dried bean by boiling them for 1 hr. before pressure cooking. Actually when I make Boston Baked Beans in pressure cooker I first boil dried navy beans for 1 hr. and let sit while I prep all my other ingredients and then I save the water for recipe use and add the beans to pressure cooker to make Boston Baked Beans which are big here in Hawaii due to New England missionaries and New Bedford whalers in 1700s and 1800s.
I use a Fagor stacking Futuro stainless steel (made in Spain) 4qt. and 6qt. pressure cooker set with a Fagor induction pro cooktop 1800 watts. The 4qt. is great for cooking for 1 or 2 and 6qt. is great for cooking for more than 2. The induction pro cooktop gives same cooking control as natural gas but without flame and is 90% more efficient than natural gas, electric or quartz ranges. The built-in timer gives me set and forget it cooking as it shuts off cooktop when selected time is reached. Fagor cooks at higher pressure than electric pressure cookers making it faster cooking time by 20%. I have the option of cooking by number (L (140°F) to H (465°F) in 8 steps plus +/- 10 degrees in between 8 steps) or by actual cooking temperature.
LemonyZest, that's great advice about the tomatillos. I take a shortcut by using green salsa.
Ken, I definitely should have presoaked and precooked the blue corn. Next time!
Do you add beef broth or water to this recipe when you are cooking in the pressure cooker. I didn't see it in the list of ingredients.
Jean, the salsa provides all the liquid you need.