Lemon Curry Rice (Instant Pot)
No formal recipe, as it relies mostly on a sweet curry spice Penzey's puts out. Any yellow curry mix should work, but keep an eye out for turmeric and fenugreek. Hing/asafoetida is also fantastic with Indian dishes if you cook it up in oils first.
2 cups brown basmati rice
1 cup brown lentils
1/4th cup black mustard seeds
3 tsp cumin seeds whole
2" - 3" of ginger, diced fine
3 small yellow onions, roughly chopped
6 serrano peppers, seeded/pithed and diced
2 lemons, and their zest, cut into slices
2 tbsp butter
olive oil
salt to taste
2 - 3 tsp curry powder
2 tsp cayenne powder, adjust to your heat preferences
3 1/4 cups water
Optional: asafoetida, curry leaves, garlic (not traditional, but goes great with above ingredients).

Use a wooden spoon with metal cookery.

Wash rice and lentils thoroughly in rice strainer and set aside.

In pot, set to sauté and add in olive oil (light, and sesame oil would work better if accessible). If you are using the hing, add once oil is hot, along with curry leaves (optional), mustard seeds, and cumin. When the seeds start to make a hissy pop sound, add in ginger, onions, and serrano (garlic, optional) and cook until just tender.

Add in butter, salt, curry spices, cayenne, lemon zest and stir to incorporate. Stir in rice and lentils, mixing thoroughly with the spices, then add lemon slices and water. Close pot and set to rice, or low pressure for approximately 15 minutes. Once cooker is done, allow to sit unplugged until the pressure cap drops naturally.

More options, you can add veggies to the dish once it is done. I find veggie blends of any sort do well if steamed/cooked and thrown in to sit in just-cooked rice for a few minutes. Peas, carrots especially, broccoli, even corn nuggets add a bit to it.

A note on using hing. It stinks. It has a high sulphur content, but cooking it in hot oil helps remove that, and it takes on a nutty, buttery onion flavor, and is amazing in Indian curries.

I remove the lemon slices once cooked. They've served their purpose. Or you can eat them if you like lemon rind.

I can't wait to try this out!

Vegetable sushi was a huge success. Not going to make a recipe since it's basically cook rice, roll on bamboo mat, cut. Some recommended inclusions: sweet potatoes (pan fried until soft or lightly crispy), avocado, jalapeno, cucumber, shiitake mushrooms (cooked in a little teriyaki until chewy <3), tofu, baby spinach leaves.