Beefless Stew in an Instant Pot
Originally- http://accidentallymeatless.blogspot.com/2017/12/wheres-beef-in-instant-pot.html
The vegetables:
1 small onion diced
2-3 carrots diced
2-3 celery stalks diced
3-4 garlic cloves minced
1/2 pkg frozen mixed mushroom blend, use the second half later (or a 10oz carton of mushrooms your choice, sliced)
2 potatoes (I prefer yukon gold, skin on) diced
1 Tblsp olive oil (optional)
The broth:
4 cups water
2 cubes Not Beef bouillon
1 bay leaf
1-2 tsp thyme
black pepper (optional)
1 Tblsp red wine vinegar (or red wine)
2 tsp soy sauce
The rest:
1 pkg gardien beefless tips
1/2 pkg frozen mixed mushroom blend (remainder) pr half a package sliced mushrooms
1/4c cornstarch
2 Tbls olive oil
2 cups warm water
2 tsp roasted garlic better than bouillon
Salt as needed
Turn your Instant Pot on saute for 5-7 mins and add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. If you’re not adding the roasted garlic better than bouillon in your flavor bomb, I recommend more time sauteing and cooking just the onions first until they brown/caramelize a little for that roasted goodness. Add in half the mushrooms, all the diced potato and the broth ingredients. Put the lid on with vent closed and set pressure cooker to high for 10 minutes. Vent manually or naturally.
Have your roasted garlic (or other broth/water) on hand (mix the better than bouillon with the warm water). Open your bag of gardien and add the cornstarch directly into the bag and coat the frozen beefless tips. If possible, use a cast iron pan to heat your oil. When the oil is hot, add in the gardien tips to begin browning, when the tips and starch begin to brown add in the mushrooms and if necessary a little broth to deglaze. You want the pan mostly dry though so the tips brown well on all sides, as needed to avoid burning add broth and using a wood spoon scrape the tasty brown bits off the pan (deglaze). The broth will thicken quickly because of the cornstarch. Toward the end of cooking (5-7 minutes), add the remaining broth to finish deglazing the pan. Set aside off heat until the pressure cooker is done.
Optional. Add in some greens such as kale, collard greens, or spinach to the pan towards the end of the cooking.
When you have the lid off your instant pot, add the beefless tips and mushrooms with the gravy/glaze. Scoop a few ladles of broth from the pot back into the pan to scrape any remaining gravy bits. If you want to thicken up the broth some more, add cornstarch very sparingly and stir to avoid clumping.
Serve with crusty bread.