This recipe uses the Instant Pot to cook short ribs in a vegetable-rich curry sauce, so it's not "braised" in the traditional way which can take several hours. The addition of baked shrimp served alongside the beef bumps this meal into the "surf-n-turf" category. This is great served over plain steamed rice, mashed potatoes, or mashed cauliflower. It's slightly more involved than some of the other simpler recipes I've posted, but it's worth it. And during this time when no one is eating at any restaurants, why not take the time to make a gourmet meal at home?
Serves 4-6
Active time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Ingredients
2-1/2 to 3 lbs boneless short ribs, cut into 4-inch chunks
kosher salt
black pepper
2 Tbsp canola oil, plus more for drizzling
1 red bell pepper, chop the top, bottom and 1/3 of the body; prepare the remaining part for garnish (see directions and photos below)
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
2 Tbsp red curry paste
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 cups beef broth or stock
1 can coconut milk (not lite)
2 Tbsp fish sauce, plus more to taste
12 large shrimp, head off, peel on and deveined
2 Tbsp water + 3 Tbsp cornstarch
2 stalks green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
Directions
Season the short ribs on all sides with salt and pepper. Set aside. Preheat your Instant Pot on “Sauté” mode, set on “More”. Prepare your vegetables: using a food processor, puree the chopped bell pepper, carrots, onion, garlic, red bell pepper and ginger until the mixture forms a coarse paste; set aside.
When the Instant Pot displays “Hot”, add 1 Tbsp of canola oil, making sure to coat the entire bottom of the insert. Brown the short ribs on all sides (30-60 seconds per side), and transfer to a plate. Do this in batches as to not crowd the pan.
Once all of the meat has been browned, add the other 1 Tbsp of canola oil to the insert and allow to heat up. Sauté the vegetable puree for 10 minutes. Press “cancel”. Add the red curry paste, tomato paste, beef broth, coconut milk, and 2 Tbsp of fish sauce to the insert and stir to combine, making sure to scrape any stuck bits off the bottom of the insert.
Add the short ribs into the liquid, making sure they’re mostly submerged. Place the lid and pressure cook on high for 45 minutes. Press “cancel”. Allow to naturally release for 15 minutes, then turn the valve to release the rest of the pressure.
Meanwhile, prepare the remaining bell pepper for garnish. Using a sharp knife, strip a thin layer of the flesh side to remove the pulpy-looking membrane. Finally, dice the pepper into 1/4-inch pieces. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a small baking sheet with foil.
When the Instant Pot starts to naturally release, toss the shrimp with some oil, salt and pepper. Place them in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, flipping once halfway through. Then switch the oven to “broil” and cook 3 more minutes. Remove from oven.
Once the short ribs have finished cooking, Taste the sauce and add more fish sauce, if needed. Then, make a slurry by mixing the cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Turn the Instant Pot on to “Sauté”, and slowly pour the slurry in. Heat until thickened, then press “Cancel”.
Plate a couple pieces of meat over rice, mashed potatoes, or mashed cauliflower. Place three shrimp around the meat and spoon some sauce over the top. Garnish with some diced red bell pepper and green onion.
Visuals
The ingredients. Those are carrots from a bag of "rainbow carrots" that I had used for another recipe. The white ones were the only ones left; otherwise, I would have used regular orange carrots. For my beef broth, I used 2 cups of water and 2 tsp of "Better than Bouillon".
Prepping the red bell pepper: Cut the top and bottom off of the pepper, remove the stem, seeds and white ribs of the pepper, then cut the body of the pepper in three equal pieces. Chop the top, bottom and 1/3 of the body in to large chunks. These pieces will be minced in the food processor with the carrots, onion, garlic, and ginger.
For the remaining body of the bell pepper, using a sharp knife, strip a thin layer of the flesh and discard. You'll be left with smooth pieces of pepper, which you will then dice into 1/4-inch pieces to be used at the end as garnish.
Use a food processor to puree the vegetables into a coarse paste:
Browned short ribs, ready to be pressure cooked.
Red curry paste, tomato paste, coconut milk, beef broth, and fish sauce.
Finished short ribs and shrimp, served over mashed cauliflower, with the thickened sauce spooned over top and garnished with red bell pepper and green onions.
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