Santa (aka Sam) brought me a pressure cooker for Christmas this year. My first experiment is a barley vegetable soup.

  
I must say, I’m impressed! The pressure cooker has the ability to sauté before cooking. 

  
The rest of the process involves adding everything and pressing a button. Not too shabby!

  
I used whatever was on hand. In this case, it included onions, shallots, bell peppers, carrots, sliced mushrooms, and a diced sweet potato. I topped it off with a cup of organic barley, a can of rinsed black beans, and 8 cups of vegetable stock. If you use vegetable stock, I encourage you to consider this product.

  
It’s so much easier than lugging around the big tetra pack cartons from Whole Foods or wherever.

So I press the button on the pressure cooker and here’s what happened 30 minutes later. 

  
Indeed, the barley was soft and everything else was perfect. After the taste test, I found that I needed my magic ingredient. 

  
After a couple shakes of Shoyu, I was satisfied. (Wheat free Tamari works great as well. ) This will be my lunch all week, if not longer with freezer meals. This is a new frontier! 

Do you have experience with vegan meals in a pressure cooker? If so, let me know. I’m eager to learn.

Even if you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can make this in about two hours in a Dutch oven or large pot. Good luck and enjoy your culinary adventures!