Life’s too short to eat the same thing over and over. This dish helped me discover some new flavor combinations- like star anise and lemon grass. I was already a huge fish sauce fan. Hat tip to NOMNOMpaleo.com

Here’s a list of some of the essential items you are going to need for this recipe as well as other items that I very highly recommend.

For this recipe:

Instant Pot – 6 Qts or Instant Pot – 8 Qts

Other highly recommended items:

Cookware:

Food thermometers:

Chef’s knives:
- Wusthof Classic 8-Inch Chef’s Knife
- Victorinox Fibrox Pro Chef’s Knife

Cutting boards:
- Teak Cutting Board – Rectangle Board With Hand Grip And Juice Canal (larger)
- Teak Cutting Board – Rectangle Edge Grain Board With Corner Hole And Juice Canal (smaller)

Mineral oil for cutting boards:
- Food Grade Mineral Oil for Cutting Boards, Countertops and Butcher Blocks

Books

InstantPot Bo Kho – Vietnamese Stew

AuthorJim Brown

Kitchen Essentials

Instant Pot - 6 Qts or Instant Pot - 8 Qts

Prep

No prep needed

Ingredients

3 -4 Pound Chuck Roast- Cut into 2" Thick Steaks

1 tbsp Cooking Fat- Bacon Grease, Ghee, Clean Lard, Coconut Oil or Avocado Oil

1 Yellow Onion- Chopped

1 -2 Tsp Curry- Coconut, Madras or Your Preference

2 Inch Piece of Ginger, Peeled and Minced or Microplaned

1 14.5 Oz. Can of Diced Tomatoes- Don't Sweat the Fractions- a 14 Oz Can Works Great

3 tbsp Fish Sauce- Red Boat

3 tbsp Unsweetened Applesauce

1 Large Stalk of Lemongrass. Trimmed, Cut into 3" Pieces and Pounded On With A Meat Mallet or Bottom of Sauce Pan

2 Whole Star Anise

1 -2 Bay Leaves

1 cup Beef, Pork or Chicken Stock- Bonus Taste Points for Homemade Bone Broth

1 lb Carrots- Peeled and Chopped Into 1" Pieces

1 Lime- Cut Into Slices for Garnish

1 Jalapeno- Deseeded & Destemmed- Chopped for Garnish

1 Cilantro Bunch- Chopped for Garnish

1

Cutting your roast in to steaks let's you brown the meat instead of steaming it, which is what seems to happen when you try to brown smaller stew size pieces of meat. You're going to use the Saute Function on your InstantPot and when it gets hot, add the cooking fat and then add your meat. Don't over crowd and don't get in a hurry. About 4- 5 minutes per side. Once browned remove to a cutting board to cut into stew sized pieces.

2

Add the onions and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the curry powder, ginger, seared meat, tomatoes, fish sauce, applesauce, star anise, bruised lemon grass, bay leaves and broth.

3

Close and seal the InstantPot and set it to 35 minutes Pressure/ High

4

When the time is up hit cancel. Carefully quick release the pressure and when depressurized open the InstantPot and add the carrots. Reseal the InstantPot- set it to Pressure/ High for 7 minutes.

5

When finished, hit cancel and carefully vent the pressure. Salt to taste. You'll use the lime wedges to adjust acidity in the serving bowls.

Ingredients