Instant Pot Matzo Ball Soup

These large, fluffy vegetarian matzo balls are 
made in an Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker.

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With Passover approaching, here's an easy way to make matzo ball soup in your Instant Pot. One of the secrets of making great matzo balls is to never uncover the pot while they are cooking. Well, there's no chance of that happening while they are locked in a pressure cooker! 

For this recipe, I'm using Manischewitz Matzo Meal, not a matzo ball mix.

Matzo Ball Soup
Vegetarian
[makes 8 matzo balls/4 servings]

Requirements
Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker

Ingredients
For the Matzo Balls
1/2 cup Manischewitz Matzo Meal
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons dried parsley
2 eggs from happy chickens
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons water
For the Soup
8 cups water
2 stalks celery, small diced or thinly sliced
1 cup small diced onion
2 carrots, sliced
1/4 cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
1 Rapunzel vegetarian boullion cube
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt to taste

Directions
Make the matzo balls. In a small bowl, mix the matzo meal, baking powder, salt, garlic powder, pepper, and dried parsley. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, slightly beat the eggs and then mix in the olive oil and matzo meal mixture and then two tablespoons of water. Blend until the mixture is uniform. Cover and place in the refrigerator until the mixture firms up, about 20 to 30 minutes.  

In the meantime, add the soup ingredients to your instant pot. Using the “Sauté” button, bring the broth to a brisk boil. Stir well.

Soup ingredients

Remove the matzo ball mixture from the refrigerator. With moistened hands, form the mixture into 8 (1-inch) matzo balls. Turn the Instant Pot off (it will continue to boil), and drop the matzo balls into the pot. Do not stir.

Immediately secure the lid, making sure the top vent is closed. Press the “Manual” button and set for 15 minutes at high pressure. When done, quickly release the pressure and remove the lid carefully with the steam venting towards the back.

I was surprised to see how big these turned out!

Serve immediately.

Nutrition
Per serving (2 matzo balls plus soup):  185 calories, 10 g total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 71 mg omega-3 and 973 mg omega-6 fatty acids*, 140 mg cholesterol, 5 g protein, 20 g carbohydrates, 2 g dietary fiber, and 721 mg salt (not counting salt to taste.)

* Fatty acids do not include contribution from the matzo meal since that information is not listed by the manufacturer. To increase the beneficial omega-3 content, use omega-3 eggs.

Paleo Fried Rice - Low Calorie and High FiberVegan And Vegetarian Options

Grated cauliflower is used instead of rice in this recipe.

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Me, Write about Paleo?
As many of you know, I'm not a big fan of the Paleo diet. As I wrote 3 years ago in my blog post, "Why you should leave the Paleo Diet to the Caveman", I feel that a strict Paleo diet consumes too much animal protein and avoids some of nature's best foods - legumes and whole grains, which makes it difficult to get the amount of fiber that people should have. And with the number of meat meals prescribed, it is not an environmentally sustainable diet.

That said, vegans and others whose diet centers mostly around plants, can consume too many carbohydrates and that's not good for you either. Especially if they eat a lot of white rice and pasta. In our case, we've been eating the large amounts of potatoes and corn we harvested this summer plus when we eat out, it's almost always Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian or Japanese food so it's hard to avoid rice. All these carbs have consequences.

Recently, my naturopath tested my HbA1c (Hemoglobin A1c). The result was 5.6%, which is normal, but at the very high end. (Doug's was 5.4%). Pre-diabetes numbers are 5.7% to 6.4%, diabetes is 6.5% or greater. To be safe, she recommended I reduce my consumption of carbohydrates, especially at breakfast, and get more exercise. 

So here's a fried rice recipe with lots of veggies and no rice. There's an optional egg in there for a bit of extra protein.

                             *                             *                            *

Fried Cauliflower Rice
Vegan or Vegetarian (with the egg), Dairy and Gluten Free
[makes 4 servings]

Ingredients
1 cauliflower, quartered
2 carrots, peeled
6 scallions, sliced (1 cup)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon finely grated ginger, or to taste
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sesame oil (divided)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper or to taste
1 tablespoon gluten free soy sauce
4 ounces mushrooms, chopped
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 large pasture raised egg, beaten
salt to taste

Directions
Holding the cauliflower by the core, grate the cauliflower on a large grater. Discard the core. 

Grate the carrots.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Add the cauliflower, carrots, scallions and ginger. Season with black pepper. Cook for several minutes, stirring frequently. 

Add the soy sauce, mushrooms, and peas and cook until the vegetables are fork tender. 

If you are omitting the egg, add salt to taste, adjust seasonings (pepper and soy sauce) if needed, and serve.

To add the egg, move the vegetables to the edges of the pan making an empty circle in the middle. Add the teaspoon of sesame oil in the center and then the beaten egg. Sprinkle the egg with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Stir slowly for several minutes until the egg is cooked.

Fold the cooked egg into the rest of the vegetables. Adjust seasoning and serve immediately.

Nutrition
Per serving with egg: 170 calories, 6 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 53 mg cholesterol, 114 mg omega-3 and 2,155 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 9 g protein, 23 g carbohydrates, 9 mg fiber, and 324 mg sodium plus added salt.

Per serving without egg: 142 calories, 4 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 102 mg omega-3 and 1,547 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 1 g protein, 23 g carbohydrates, 9 mg fiber, and 307 mg sodium plus added salt.