Category Archives: Recipes

August 3, 2026 · 10:17 PM

Easy Mango/Pineapple Soft-Serve Ice Cream Recipe

Like with the previous Triple-Berry ice cream recipe, I got this one from Google AI, and tried it out with good success with my 1.5L iCreamLab compressor ice cream maker1. It’s simple, and fast, taking less than 45min from having the idea of doing it to eating the ice cream. The flavor and texture reminded me a lot of the Dole Whip that we tried in Hawaii.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup2 diced pineapple (fresh or frozen)3
  • 1 cup diced mango (also fresh or frozen)
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 cups heavy cream4

Instructions:

  1. Add the fruit, lemon juice, sugar, and salt into a blender, and blend until smooth. If you’re using frozen fruit, and your blender is weak enough (like mine), you may need to add the dairy to the fruit to get it to blend. If you’re using fresh or thawed fruit, you can probably just blend it without adding the dairy.
  2. If you haven’t added the dairy yet, pour the fruit into a bowl, and fold in the milk and cream, and stir until evenly mixed.
  3. If you didn’t use frozen fruit (or partially thawed fruit), you may want to chill it in the fridge for 30min-1hr.
  4. Once chilled, or if you were using frozen fruit as the base, pour it into the ice cream maker, and run it for ~30min for soft serve, or 60min for hard serve. If you want it harder, you can then put it in the freezer for another hour or two before consuming.

If you’ve made it soft-serve, you can serve it immediately, and feel free to add toppings (fresh pineapple pieces, berries, maraschino cherries, dried coconut flakes, fruit syrups, berry compote, etc.).

  1. It was actually almost certainly a kickstarter scam — the group just white labeled an ice cream maker you could find on Alibaba, but it has worked reasonably well, even if they never delivered the three extra mixing bowls I had ordered as add-ons. Note: this recipe would almost certainly also work with a traditional ice-bucket style ice cream maker, or with a compressor ice cream maker from a reputable brand, like the dozens of different models you can find on Amazon. ↩︎
  2. You can vary the fruit amounts from 1-1.5cups and still have it fit in the ice cream maker, and it still tastes pretty good — feel free to vary it up or down based on preference. More fruit obviously makes it fruitier. More cream makes it creamier. Pretty simple. The Triple Berry Recipe did 3cups of frozen fruit and 1.5cups of cream, for reference. ↩︎
  3. I had good results with frozen pineapple and mango — on the plus side, you didn’t have to chill the mixture before putting it in the ice cream maker, though blending frozen fruit chunks is harder, so I had to mix in the dairy in order to get it to blend properly. The AI didn’t recommend doing it that way, but instead recommended putting the fruit out in a bowl to partially thaw, or defrosting it in the microwave, though you ideally want the fruit to still be cold to avoid having to chill the mix before putting it in the ice cream mixer. ↩︎
  4. You can vary the cream a little — dropping it down to 1.5cups like with the triple-berry recipe still worked fine, though I’m sure it melts faster. ↩︎

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July 16, 2026 · 10:32 PM

Easy Sheet Pan Chicken Shawarma

I can’t remember where I got this recipe from, but this is a yummy and simple recipe for making chicken shawarma in a regular oven that can take as little as 15min of prep time, depending on how pedantic you want to be about ingredients1.

Ingredients:

  • 2lb Boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • 1 large yellow onion
  • 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice2
  • 1-1/2 Tbsp minced garlic3
  • 2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper4
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Instructions:

  1. In a large bowl or measuring cup, using a whisk, mix together the oil, lemon juice, garlic, and spices.
  2. Peel the onion, and slice it into long narrow pieces.
  3. Add the onion and chicken to the marinade mix, and stir them to evenly coat all pieces5. After mixing them, I’ll usually then put it in a large 1 or 2 gallon ziploc bag, and shake it around to make sure things are evenly coated.
  4. Set the coated chicken and onion slices aside to marinate in the fridge for at least two hours, though if you have time, overnight is better.
  5. Once sufficiently marinated, preheat the oven to 425F, and then place the marinated chicken and onion mixture onto a baking sheet. You can spray the baking sheet first, but the marinade has enough oil in it that I usually don’t bother6.
  6. You then bake it in the oven until it is golden and cooked through. This typically takes less than 30min.

I’ll typically serve the cooked chicken shawarma and onions while they’re hot, on pita bread or pita pockets, with diced cucumber, Roma tomatoes, and sliced romaine lettuce. Theoretically, it’s probably most authentic if you top it with a yogurt7 or tahini-based sauce, or tzatziki sauce, but I usually prefer hummus.

  1. Ask yourself the question — if someone calls for lemon in a recipe — do you go for the bottle of lemon juice, or would you consider that bordering on sacrilege. If you’re fine with using pre-minced garlic and bottled lemon, this recipe can take as little as 10-15min of prep time. If you’re the kind of person who only use fresh-minced garlic, and fresh-squeezed lemon juice, it will probably taste at least 5% better, though it’ll likely double or triple your prep time. Your call, I won’t judge. ↩︎
  2. Or the juice of one medium-sized lemon if you prefer fresh-squeezed. ↩︎
  3. Three large cloves of garlic if you want to peel/mince them fresh. ↩︎
  4. Freshly ground black pepper is slightly better — you can make some by smashing peppercorns inside a fold of paper towel with a mallet. ↩︎
  5. If you want to, you can trim excess fat, and slice the chicken into narrow, ~1/2in strips before coating it in the marinate, or you can marinate the full pieces, cook them, then slice them when they’re cooked. It’s easier and faster to cut them when they’re cooked, but you get better coating of the chicken with the marinade if you slice it beforehand. Either approach works. ↩︎
  6. The chicken is fatty enough, even if you trim it, that between the rendered fat and the olive oil, you typically end up with a lot of juice, and very juicy chicken. If you wanted more of a grilled texture, you could potentially cook the chicken on a wire rack on the baking sheet, or you could cook the chicken for say 20min, then finish it on the grill. But frankly, just doing it on the sheet pan gets you something that’s delicious and easy. ↩︎
  7. The recipe I had did come with a simple yogurt sauce recipe. You basically whisk together 1/2 cup of unflavored Greek yogurt, 1 Tbsp of lemon, 1 Tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil, 1 Tbsp of minced garlic, and a pinch of kosher salt and a pinch of red pepper flakes. If you like yogurt sauce, it’s a pretty quick and simple recipe. ↩︎

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June 6, 2026 · 3:53 PM

Easy Triple-Berry Soft-Serve Ice Cream Recipe

This was a quick, easy, and delicious ice cream recipe that I found via Google’s AI when searching for recipes for use with my compressor-style ice cream maker1. I’ve gone from deciding to make a batch, to eating the last of the batch in under an hour, and most of the ingredients are ones we already have at home, so it’s an easy and quick go-to for desserts.

Ingredients (makes ~1.5qt/1.5L):

  • 3 cups Frozen or fresh mixed berries2
  • 1-1/2 cups Heavy Cream
  • 3/4 cup Whole Milk
  • 3/4 cup White Sugar
  • 1-1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 3/8 tsp Kosher Salt

Instructions:

  1. Prep the berry base in a blender by combining the berries, sugar, whole milk, and kosher salt. Blend on high until completely smooth3.
  2. Whisk in the heavy cream and vanilla extract. This can be performed in the blender during the previous step if the blending needs more fluid.
  3. If you used fresh berries, you’ll want to refrigerate the mixture for at least 1hr. If you used frozen berries, the mixture is already chilled and ready to put in the ice cream maker.
  4. Turn on the compressor ice cream maker and pour the chilled mixture into the ice cream tub. Churn until the mixture reaches a thick soft-serve consistency (about 20-30min depending on the machine), or if you want it firmer you can let it mix for longer.
  5. Serve immediately or transfer to a container and freeze for another hour or two for a firmer texture.
  1. I’m sure you could use the same recipe in a traditional ice-bucket style ice cream maker, I just haven’t tried it. ↩︎
  2. You can use whichever berries you prefer, though I usually go for strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, and sometimes blackberry. I usually use frozen berries, as you can skip the chilling step. ↩︎
  3. In theory, you can strain the mixture to remove seeds, but if you’ve blended it well, the seed have been blended in by this point. ↩︎

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May 30, 2025 · 9:50 PM

Shrimp Ceviche Recipe

Shrimp Ceviche is a Peruvian dish that uses lime juice to “cook” raw shrimp to make it safe for eating. Me and my boys tried it in Ecuador during our trip there last year, and when Tiff asked for Peruvian Chicken for Mother’s Day, we found this delicious and simple recipe to go with it.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails off
  • 3/4 cup fresh lime juice
  • 1 large tomato, diced
  • 1 large avocado, diced
  • 1/2 cup red onion, minced
  • 1/2 cup cilantro, minced
  • 1 Jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

  1. Thaw shrimp in a bowl with warm tap water for 10 minutes.
  2. If using fresh limes, squeeze juice from the limes into a bowl while the shrimp is thawing.
  3. Drain the shrimp and gently squeeze them, and then dice them. Mix the diced shrimp pieces in the bowl with the lime juice.
  4. Let the shrimp marinate in the lime juice for 1.5hrs. You can do this in the bowl, or you can put them in a ziploc bag in the fridge. At the end, the acid will have “cooked” the shrimp, changing the color to a more opaque white and pink color.
  5. Shortly before the shrimp is done marinating in the fridge, prepare the other ingredients — dice the tomato, avocado, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeño. Once the shrimp is done marinating, mix them in with the marinated shrimp.
  6. Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve the dish cold with either tortilla chips, or on tacos.

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June 22, 2024 · 3:48 PM

Instant Pot Monggo (Filiipino Mung Bean Stew)

Monggo is a stew of mung beans, pork (and/or chicken) and shrimp, typically served on top of rice. 

We had found this recipe a few years ago, but when I went to make some again for an open house for our Philippines trip last month, I found that the link to this recipe didn’t work anymore. Thanks to the Internet Archive WayBack Machine, I was able to find the recipe again, so this time I’m putting it up here on the blog. This recipe was originally from Brenda Boggs of the Hapahash.com food website.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 8

Ingredients:

  • 2 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
  • 1 onion, chopped white or yellow
  • 3 tbsp garlic, minced
  • 1/2 to 1 lb pork and/or chicken cut into bite sized pieces
  • 1-2 tomato, chopped
  • 1 cup mung beans
  • 2-3 tbsp salt
  • 4 cups spinach
  • 1 lb shrimp cooked
  • 3 cups water

Instructions:

  1. Set the Instant Pot to sauté. Once it heats up, add oil and sauté onion and garlic until fragrant and translucent. Add the pork and/or chicken pieces and brown on all sides. This browning step is primarily for additional flavor and can be skipped, if desired.
  2. Add the chopped tomato, mung beans, water, malunggay leaves (if using) and 2 tbsp salt.
  3. Turn the Instant Pot on Manual (high pressure) and set for 10 minutes. Make sure it is set to sealed. Walk away.
  4. Let the Instant Pot naturally release for 10 minutes. You might still need to quick release after 10 minutes and then add the spinach and shrimp, stir to combine. Carefully taste and add additional salt as desired.

Additional Notes:

  1. If you have a local Asian grocery store, depending on the season, you may be able to get Chili Leaves (Dahon ng Sili in Filipino) to use instead of the Spinach. They add a little bit of a peppery flavor that’s more authentic.
  2. If you want a more authentic flavor, you can use patis (fish sauce) rather than the salt. I’m a little too much of an Amerikano, so I usually don’t use patis. Patis can also be found at most Asian grocery stores.
  3. If you can find them, you can also add Malunggay (aka Moringa) leaves to the mix in Step 2. I’d add at most 1 cup of them. These have been hard for me to find, so I usually leave them out.

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February 6, 2024 · 11:14 PM

High Altitude Chocolate Chip Cookies

After experimenting with several recipes for making good Chocolate Chip cookies at Denver altitude, I finally found one that gave the right texture and taste. A couple friends asked me to share the recipe, so I decided to write this up. For reference, you can find the original recipe, with more details, and suggestions on how to tweak other cookie recipes for high altitude here.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup Butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup Sugar
  • 3/4 cup Brown Sugar
  • 2 Eggs, room temperature
  • 1 tsp Vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Baking Soda1
  • 3 cups All-purpose flour
  • 12 oz package of Chocolate Chips2

Directions:

  1. To have the butter properly softened and the eggs at room temperature, you’ll want to put them out on the counter at least an hour before starting to make the cookies3. This step is pretty important.
  2. Mix the butter and both types of sugar in a stand mixer, Bosch mixer, or mixing bowl, and keep mixing them until the butter and sugars are thoroughly mixed and creamy. Scrape the walls of the mixing bowl with a spatula.
  3. Add the eggs and mix until thoroughly combined. Scrape the walls of the mixing bowl again.
  4. Add the vanilla, baking soda, and 1 cup of the flour, and mix until well combined. Scrape the walls of the mixing bowl again.
  5. Add another ~1 and 1/2 cups of flour, and mix thoroughly. The dough will be pretty tough by this point, so you may want to switch to a dough hook, especially if you’re doing a double or triple batch.
  6. Test the batter at this point, scoop out a little dough and pinch it. It should squeeze easily but not stick to your fingers. If it’s still sticking, add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour, mix thoroughly, then try again. If necessary, keep adding flour 1-2 Tbsp at a time until it is the right consistency.
  7. Mix in the chocolate chips4.
  8. Chill the cookie dough in the fridge for at least 15-30min while preheating the oven to 375F. Between batches return the cookie dough to the fridge5.
  9. I scoop the cookies out using a 1 Tbsp measuring spoon, but heaping it up about double size (~2 Tbsp per cookie), and then rolling them into a ball. You can fit about 12 of these, evenly spaced, on a normal-sized cooking sheet. I tend to use an aluminum cooking sheet with a layer of parchment paper lining it.
  10. Cook for 9-12 minutes until the knobby parts of the cookie are starting to brown a little. The rest of the cookie might look undercooked, but it will keep cooking a bit after you remove it from the oven.
  11. Once it’s cooled down sufficiently, I then transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack.

There are pictures an a lot more details and suggestions in the original recipe, but I wanted to provide simplified/concisified version here on the blog. Let me know if you have any comment/suggestions in the comment section.

  1. If you accidentally put in Baking Powder, it’s possible to salvage the recipe by adding 2-3x the amount of baking powder (reference). It won’t be as good, but is still decent. Don’t ask how I know. ↩︎
  2. I prefer semi-sweet mini chocolate chips, as it spreads the chocolate out more throughout the cookie. And 12oz works out to approximately 2 cups if you have a bigger package. ↩︎
  3. If you forget to put the butter and eggs out in advance, you can soften the butter using a microwave (say ~20s at 50% power) or putting it in a Ziploc baggy and immersing it a bowl with warm water. The eggs can also be warmed by putting them in a bowl with warm water. More suggestions are provided in the linked original recipe. ↩︎
  4. If you want to add other stuff like chopped nuts or coconut, this would be where you’d add them. My dad goes with chopped walnuts and dried coconut. ↩︎
  5. You don’t have to do this step, but I’ve noticed that by the time you’re done mixing, the butter in the cookies is getting pretty close to melting, and you end up getting harder, flatter cookies. Chilling the dough seems to make it stiffer, and the cookies end up being more chewy like I like them. ↩︎

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May 5, 2023 · 11:45 PM

Oven Roasted Peruvian Chicken (Pollo a la Brasa) and Green Sauce (Aji Verde) Recipes

This is a relatively simple recipe for some nearly authentic tasting Peruvian-style roasted chicken, and a slightly spicy green dipping sauce that goes really well with it. While authentic Pollo a la Brasa would be cooked on a rotisserie grill, this recipe is for oven baking. I based my recipe on this recipe, which includes some extra tips and a video, with some of the spice quantities nerfed slightly to placate picky eaters. This was my second set of international dishes I’ve been experimenting with as part of one of my 2023 annual goals of cooking new dishes from each of the inhabited continents.

Peruvian Chicken (Pollo a la Brasa) Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 6-8lb whole chicken
  • 6 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 cup lime juice (~4 limes) — Optional: add the lime zest
  • 8-12 cloves garlic
  • 2 Tbsp kosher salt
  • 2 Tbsp cumin
  • 4 tsp paprika
  • 4 tsp white or brown sugar
  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • 2 tsp oregano
  • (Optional) 2 tsp coriander

Directions:

  1. Start by making sure the chicken is properly thawed in the fridge, if it was previously frozen. This should take ~24hrs per 5lb of chicken. Once thawed make sure to remove any giblets or other innards, make sure the chicken is patted dry with paper towels.
  2. Preheat the oven to 475F.
  3. Use your fingers to carefully separate the skin from the meat around each end of the opening, and place the chicken on a roasting pan rack.
  4. Mince the garlic, and in a small bowl, combine the olive oil, lime juice, garlic, kosher salt, paprika, sugar, black pepper, and oregano, and if you’re using them the lime zest and coriander.
  5. Spoon some of the spice mixture under the loosened chicken skin so it can be in direct contact with the meat. Also coat the outside of the chicken with the mixture, using a cooking brush. If you have chicken string, you can use it to tie the legs together, if desired. I would suggest orienting the bird with the breast facing upward.
  6. Once the oven is up to temperature, place the chicken in the oven and roast it at 475F for 20 minutes.
  7. After 20 minutes, use a baster to base the chicken with juices, while lowering the oven’s cooking temperature to 350F.
  8. Roast the chicken in the oven at 350F until it is at a safe temperature of at least 165F. For this sized bird, this should take approximately 1hr 15min. Baste the chicken every 20-30min during this time.
  9. Once the chicken is up to temperature, remove it from the oven, and let it rest for 10-15min before cutting/serving. It is best eaten hot with a side of the hot dipping sauce, and either roasted potatoes or homemade french fries.

If you have an air fryer large enough to roast a whole chicken, you can also cook it in the air fryer. In that case, I would put it in, with the breast side down initially, and roast it at 360F for 30min, basting it every 15min, flip it over to breast-side-up after 30min, and then roast it for another 20min at 360F, basting every 10min, and checking the final temperature to make sure it’s at least 165F. When cooked, the skin should be fairly dark in many spots, but not burned.

[Update 1/28/2024: At my brother, Jeremy’s recommendation, I tried making this using bone-in/skin-on chicken thigh pieces instead of a whole chicken, and it worked really well. It still tasted just as good, and cooked a lot faster. I used the same ~8lb of chicken, but didn’t try separating the skin to coat it with the marinade — I just dipped the pieces in the bowl to make sure they were thoroughly coated, then put on the baking sheet. I cooked the pieces at the same 475F for 20min, basted them with drippings, then put them back in for another 20min at 350F, and all but one of the pieces was clearly above the 165F threshold by that point. I think if I had spaced them out a bit more evenly, all of them would’ve been done by that point. So, it’s a little more Americanized than doing the whole bird, but has the same great taste, and a lot less time or work.]

[Update 12/8/2024: Around Thanksgiving, I had the idea of trying to do a turkey using this recipe. It turns out it works great, and tastes amazing. You just need to scale the recipe based on the weight of the turkey. I also let it marinate for ~3hrs before baking it, which seemed to help. Apparently Pavo a la Brasa is actually a thing Peruvians often do in the US, but it may become a tradition in the Goff house too.]

[Update 5/11/2025: I added the optional addition of lime zest, coriander, and using brown sugar in lieu of white sugar — these come from a recipe for Pollo a la Brasa wings that we also like. If you’re using these for wings, you may want to increase the sauce recipe by about 50% relative to the weight of chicken, since they have more surface area to weigh ratio.]

Peruvian Green Dipping Sauce (Aji Verde)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup (loosely packed) of fresh cilantro
  • 1-2 whole jalapeño peppers
  • 1/2 – 1 Tbsp aji amarillo paste
  • 2 Tbsp grated cojita cheese
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp lime juice
  • 1 tsp white vinegar
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/8 tsp kosher salt

Directions:

  1. Puree all of the ingredients in a blender, and refrigerate until time to serve.

That’s literally it. Just toss it all in a blender, puree it, and then let it chill while the chicken cooks.

Notes:

  1. If you don’t live near a Latin American grocery store that carries the paste, you can buy Aji Amarillo paste on Amazon. Theoretically you could substitute a habañero pepper, but I haven’t tried that.
  2. If you can’t find cojita cheese, grated parmesan cheese can be used as a substitute.
  3. If you want a less spicy sauce, you can remove the seeds from the jalapeños before adding them in, and use the lower range of the amount of recommended peppers and aji amarillo paste.
  4. I found a good variation on the Aji Verde green sauce (from this recipe for Pollo a la Brasa wings) that also tastes good, but only uses ingredients you can easily find at a typical US grocery store:
    • 1 cup fresh cilantro
    • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
    • 1/4 cup sour cream
    • 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • 2 green Serrano peppers
    • 2 large cloves garlic
    • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
    • 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

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April 25, 2023 · 9:48 PM

Naan Bread Recipe

This Naan Bread Recipe, based on this recipe by Becky Krystal is the perfect complement to my previous Instant Pot Butter Chicken recipe.

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

  • 3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1-1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
  • ~3/4 cup of warm water
  • Cooking spray oil
  • 1-2 Tbsp melted butter

Directions:

  1. Before you start, set the buttermilk out to allow it to warm up to room temperature.
  2. Mix the flour, baking powder, and kosher salt together in a large bowl.
  3. Pour the buttermilk over the top of the flour mixture, and quickly stir it in using a large spoon. The flour will still be fairly dry with some wet clumps.
  4. Stir in water, a few tablespoons at a time, stirring in with a spatula or wooden spoon. Continue stirring in water until the flour comes together to form a soft ball (should take ~3/4 cup). It should be soft and slightly sticky.
  5. Knead the dough by hand for 1-2 minutes, using the ball to pick up any dry flour in the bottom of the bowl. If it’s too sticky to handle, you can use some flour to dust your hands.
  6. Spray a baking sheet with the spray oil, then divide the dough into six equal portions. Roll each portion into a round ball, and place on baking sheet.
  7. Melt the butter, and then coat each of the round dough balls with butter.
  8. Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. The dough needs to rest, but won’t rise much.
  9. About 10 min before that 30 minutes is up, preheat a large cast-iron pan or skillet, a little below medium heat.
  10. Dust a work surface with some flour, and then take out one dough ball (leaving the others covered with plastic wrap), touch both sides of the dough ball to the floured surface to get flour on both sides of the ball. Then roll it out with a lightly-floured rolling pin, until it is approximately 8-9 inch diameter and roughly circular. You can rotate the dough by 90 degrees with each rolling motion, to make it roughly even. But the shape doesn’t need to be perfectly round.
  11. Once the skillet is hot, add the first portion of flattened dough. Cook for 1-3 minutes, uncovered, until lots of bubbles have appeared and the bottom surface is dry and has lots of brown spots.
  12. Flip the dough over with tongs, and then cook it covered for another two minutes until there are plenty of dark, almost charred spots on the top and bottom of the naan bread. You may need to lower temperatures to reduce charring.
  13. While the first naan bread piece is cooking, roll out the next piece, and then repeat steps 10-13 until all six are cooked.
  14. You can brush the cooked naan with more of the melted butter if you have leftovers from brushing the dough balls in step 7. If you’re really fancy, you could mix in some minced garlic with the butter to brush the cooked Naan with to make a garlic naan.

Serve this with the previously mentioned Instant Pot butter chicken and cooked Basmati Rice for a nice Indian-style dinner that is relatively easy to cook, and really tasty. I don’t do a lot of breads or baking, and this recipe is pretty forgiving.

This is the second of my international recipes that I’ve been trying out as part of one of my annual goals for 2023, to try out recipes from each of the inhabited continents.

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January 23, 2023 · 9:52 PM

Instant Pot Butter Chicken with Potatoes and Peas

As part of my goal this year to cook new international dishes, I wanted to share this is a great and fairly simple Indian butter chicken recipe. It is based on a recipe recommended by someone I follow on Twitter, but with a minor tweak to the amount of Cayenne Pepper, and added potatoes and peas.

Servings: 8-12

Ingredients:

  • 28oz can of Diced Tomatoes
  • 10-12 cloves Minced Garlic
  • 3-4 tsp Minced Ginger
  • 2 tsp Turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
  • 2 tsp Smoked Paprika
  • 2 tsp Kosher Salt
  • 4 tsp Garam Masala
  • 2 tsp Ground Cumin
  • 3-5 lb Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
  • 8oz Butter
  • 1 cup Heavy Cream
  • 1/2 cup Chopped Cilantro
  • 1-2 lb potatoes
  • 1-2 cups Green Peas

Directions:

  1. Add the Tomatoes, Minced Garlic, Minced Ginger, Turmeric, Cayanne Pepper, Smoked Paprika, Kosher Salt, half of the Garam Masala (2 tsp), and Ground Cumin to the Instant Pot, stir thoroughly.
  2. Rinse and cut the Potatoes into large chunks — 1 inch cubes or bigger, and add them to the mixed tomatoes and spices. Add the chicken pieces over the top of the tomatoes, spices, and potatoes.
  3. Turn the Instant Pot on to it’s Pressure Cook setting, with a timer set for 10 minutes on High.
  4. If you want to serve this on rice, you can start the rice at about this point. I’d recommend 2-3 cups of either Jasmine or Basmati rice to go with this much butter chicken.
  5. Once the Instant Pot pressure cooking cycle is complete, let the Instant Pot naturally vent for 10 minutes, and then manually release the rest of the pressure.
  6. Remove the chicken pieces using a pair of tongs. If desired, cut the chicken into chunks of similar size to the potatoes. Set the cut chicken aside.
  7. Remove the potatoes from the Instant Pot using tongs, and put them with the cut chicken pieces.
  8. Take the sauce from the Instant Pot and puree it in a blender or using an immersion blender. Return the pureed sauce to the Instant Pot, and add in the Butter, sliced into thin slices to melt easier. Once the butter has melted in, add the Heavy Cream, the other half of the Garam Masala (2 tsp), the Chopped Cilantro, and the Peas.
  9. Mix together thoroughly, and add the chicken and potatoes back in. If necessary reheat for 3-5 min using the Instant Pot sauté function.

The amount of chicken, potatoes, and peas to add is up to you. The original recipe would have only called for 2lb of chicken, and separating half of the sauce, but by adding in potatoes, peas, and extra chicken, the amount of sauce seems about right. I used frozen peas and thawed chicken, though apparently you can use frozen chicken too. Depending on how much chicken you put in, you may want to add in a little extra salt. And finally, if you’re dairy free, you can substitute coconut oil and full-fat coconut milk in place of Butter and Heavy Cream.

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