Cookbook Review: The Vegan Instant Pot Cookbook by Nisha Vora

I got this cookbook back in June of 2019 and one of the first recipes I tried was the Chickpea Vegetable Biryani. The combination of spices mixed with the sweetness of raisins, along with the crunch of cashews is perfection! I never have made the raita that is supposed to accompany this biryani but I always add extra raisins.

Another recipe I made pretty soon after I got this cookbook was Double Fudge Chocolate Cake. Cake in an Instant Pot was something I needed to see with my own eyes. (Also, she has a recipe on her site for vegan Instant Pot cheesecake that will blow your mind! https://www.rainbowplantlife.com/blog/how-to-bake-a-cheesecake-in-the-instant-pot?rq=cheesecake) The Lemon Poppyseed Bundt Cake was also a hit. I found a mini bundt pan at Aldi just for that one.

While I’m on the subject of desserts, I really like the crisp topping portion of the Peach-Raspberry Crisp recipe. It’s made on the stove, comes together quickly, and is great on blueberry fruit crisp. I usually double the recipe, with the exception of the brown sugar. Also, the Thai Mango Sticky Rice has made it into our regular rotation, especially when we have leftover rice from another recipe. I tried it once as written, but now I just use leftover rice with the sauce recipe mixed in.

Just this week I’ve made the Tofu Cauliflower Tikka Masala for the millionth time. Do I use tofu? No. Do I use cauliflower? Also, no because I am apparently incapable of following any recipes. But this sauce, you guys. You need it. I make chickpea tofu with Vegan Richa’s recipe and this tikka masala sauce is great with Burmese or chickpea tofu. Again, I don’t use the Instant Pot for this and a lot of her recipes don’t require an Instant Pot.

Those are my most favorite recipes, the ones that if you hold the book, you can see which pages I use the most. I also use the cook time charts fairly often when I cook beans in the IP. There are a lot of recipes I’ve been meaning to try because almost every recipe also has a photo, it makes them so much more tempting. I’m looking through the cookbook now and I’m hungry, so this is dangerous!

As I’m flipping through the pages, I see recipes I’ve been meaning to try, like the Instant Pot lasagna and the Red Lentil Almond Curry.

For her first cookbook, I’ll say Nisha Vora did a great job!

There are some errors here and there, like in the Chickpea Biryani there are items in the ingredient list that aren’t in the instructions. It threw me off the first time I made it because when I cook I set out all the ingredients on the counter and put them away as I use them. For this recipe, I grouped them all by steps in the instructions and I had cardamom pods and fennel seeds that I had to use context to see in what step they belonged. In the scheme of things, at least in this recipe, it doesn’t really make that much difference. Like I said, I’m not great and following directions because I leave things out or cook only parts of recipes and it’s fine.

Also, in the Peach-Raspberry Crisp recipe, there’s a comical misspelling of “coconut”. It appears in my copy as “oconut” and I’m amused every time I see it.

This book is definitely worth your cash! Even if you only make a few of the recipes, like I have, you’ve saved that much money on takeout food. As of this writing, it sells for $17.49 on Amazon. You’ll save that much in cooking at home just one or two of Nisha’s recipes.

*This review was not sponsored.