I’m thrilled to report that I’ve joined the legions of Pot-heads out there.

Just to be clear: my little blog isn’t monetized, so I don’t earn any money if I mention a product. My rhapsodizing about the Instant Pot has no strings attached.

Getting an Instant Pot came on the heels of my decision to follow a plant-based, vegan diet, which included more beans. The thought of eating a lot of canned beans didn’t have a lot of appeal, so I started using dried. I made a batch of hummus (a Jamie Oliver recipe); I soaked chickpeas in salted water overnight, then cooked them slowly in a pot on the stove. They had a lovely nutty flavour.

Cooking beans on the stove is easy enough, but a bit time-consuming. It sounded a lot more efficient to use a pressure cooker and I considered the classic style with a vented lid that goes on the stove. But then I thought surely in this day and age there must be an electric pressure cooker. And there is: the Instant Pot.

It took a couple of tries to get the hang of using it. The first time I cooked chickpeas, I got an error message, but they were still perfectly cooked.

Whether to soak dried beans before cooking is a matter of preference, and the Instant Pot is perfect for cooking them either way. However, soaking beans makes them easier to digest. And since I eat a lot of beans (the musical fruit, good for your heart) I’ll just say that my vote is for soaking. Overnight in salted water is preferable, or at least a few hours.  

The variety of dried beans is endless. I have a terrific grocery store nearby that has an entire aisle devoted to dried beans.

For New Year’s, I made Hoppin’ John, a stew with black-eyed peas from the southern U.S. I’ve made Instant Pot baked beans with molasses. And every week, I make a fresh batch of hummus.