I tried to improve on two dishes this week. I wanted to make them easier or better. I had mixed results.

I decided to make my tomato and ground beef spaghetti sauce in the Instant Pot. Recipes I read said you could get that hours of simmering taste in about 15 minutes. I browned the 12 oz. of ground beef I had. I figured I would make enough for two meals. The recipe said I was supposed to use 2lbs. but that seemed like too much to me. I sautéed onions and garlic, added oregano, fresh basil and parsley as well as pepper flakes and tomato paste. For liquid I added 2 cans of diced tomatoes and a cup of chicken sauce enhanced with some fish sauce for umami. The sauce came out okay but was missing  a robust meat flavor. That was probably the result of not enough meat. If I am going to tinker with the recipe I need to keep the proportions consistent.

Spaghetti with meat sauce

I also redid the spicy Thai basil with eggplant and tofu. I threw out the leftover globe eggplant and found Chinese eggplant at Whole Foods. It worked much better. The whole dish was less bitter although I might have overdone the soy sauce a bit.

Spicy Thai basil eggplant with tofu served with brown rice