Greek Style Green Beans in Instant Pot - Φασολάκια Λαδερά

In Greek, this dish is called Φασολάκια Λαδερά (Beans in Oil) – pronounced fah-so-lah-kia la-deh-ra. It is a very simple recipe and it seems much more like a "stew" to me.

The ingredients are:

• 1 1/4 lbs green beans with two ends cut;
• 3 1/2 large tomatoes grated;
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste;
• 6-7 large mushrooms sliced;
• 3 large potatoes cut in large pieces;
• 3 medium onions sliced;
• 1/4 cup olive oil;
• 1 tablespoon sugar.

To Serve:

• Feta cheese, feel free to exclude this to make this a vegan dish;
• Bread.

To cook this delicious dish I used my Instant Pot, my newest acquisition. I remember my mom using her pressure cooker back in the 1960s at our home in Nea Smirni, Greece (1, 2). My parents had friended a family, Mr. and Mrs. Koutelaki, that repatriated themselves from Istanbul, Asia Minor to Nea Smirni, Greece. Mrs. Koutelaki taught my mom how to use the pressure cooker. We didn't call it "pressure cooker", though, instead we called it "Düdüklü", a Turkish name, that's what Mrs' Koutelaki called it. The pressure cooker reduces the cooking time by a lot. If you are not using a pressure cooker you should cook this dish for about one hour, with the pressure cooker, though, you only need to cook it for 20 minutes. 

I created a YouTube video that shows the complete process. Here it is.

Happy cooking!