Homemade Lactose Free Yogurt

This is my first INSTANT POT dish - home yogurt.  I was contemplating over the Christmas to buy a yogurt maker.  I had one many years ago, and it was a simple incubation steamer box.  Since I found a recipe in the INSTANT POT recipe booklet, I thought I will give it a try.  I just so happened to have six of these Oui yogurt cup.  And a half a cup of Oui vanilla yogurt, non-fat Lactose Free Milk.   So I mixed 4 C of the non-fat Lactose Free Milk and yogurt.  I think I only had 1/3 C of the yogurt rather than the 1/2 C the recipe called for.  And added 1 Tbsp of sugar.

I boiled the jars to sanitize, and also boiled the milk in a separate pot.  Cool to room temperature. 

Take a 1/4 C of the milk and mix in the yogurt till dissolved.

Add the mixture to the rest of the milk.

Pour equally into jars.

Follow the Instant Pot's instruction by adding 4 C of water to the inner pot. 

Place the yogurt jars.

Close the lid  - leave the pressure valve in Release position. 

Select Keep Warm for 15 minutes and then unplug.

With Lid on, let the pressure cooker stand for 10 hours.  I let mine stand for 12 hours.

Take them out.  Cover with wrap and chilled overnight.

 Not bad.  Firm top.

 

Smooth texture.

 

 

 

 

 

Making HOSHI IMO

 I eat sweet potatoes (not Yam) regularly to help control blood pressure.  I cook it in the microwave at a Potato setting.  Then, while watching a Japanese TV show, this woman side-kick was giving everyone a package of "HOSHI IMO", and that gave me the idea.  HOSHI IMO in Japan is steamed and then dried.  I enjoyed it when I was a child. It's a sweet and chewy treat. The commercial ones are loaded with 'whatever' that are not healthy for us.  Since I have been using the dehydrator to make HOSHI KAKI - dried persimmons, I thought why not make the dried sweet potatoes.  I also wanted to test out the InstaPot pressure cooker.  I normally pressure cook potatoes over my gas stove.  It's done in 3 minutes.   And, so did InstaPot in 4 minutes.  Perfect.

 Scrub the sweet potatoes. Remove any blemishes.  Make a single slit.   I've never used InstaPot before, so instead of 1 C of water, I added 1-1/2 C water for 5 potatoes.  Just to make sure for the first time that there is enough water to make steam.  Set the "Steam Release" valve mechanism to "Sealing" position.  Plug in.  Press STEAM button, Press "-" minus button to reduce the timer to 4 minutes.  Press STEAM again to start - that was scary.  Set my kitchen timer to 4 minutes also for the just in case I am doing it wrong.   I walked away really far.

Once it is cooked, I let it sit for 10+ min to cool.  Set the valve to "Release".  Unlock the lid.  There they are.  Beautiful.

Peel and slice.  Dehydrate.  Hope they will turn out as good as the one sold at the store.

Now, it's a waiting time for the result in a few more hours of drying.  Will they keep well in Mason jar?  Good enough to take along for a hike?  How long will it keep...
 

Polly's Make It Again Bourbon Vanilla Ice-Cream and Piggybacked Meringue Chocolate Chiffon Cake,

This creamy Bourbon Vanilla Raisin Ice-Cream is so delicious that I just had to make it again.

Ingredients:

9 Large Organic Egg yolks

2-1/2 C Organic Lactose Free Half-and-Half
2 C Organic Heavy Whip Cream

Scant 3/4 C Organic Sugar Cane

1 Vanilla  Bean

1 C Organic Raisins, Chopped

1/3 C Bourbon 

 Follow the same methods posted previously:

https://rockdavinci.blogspot.com/2020/11/best-bourbon-vanilla-ice-cream-recipe.html

 

What to do with 9 Egg whites?

Make Meringue Chocolate Chiffon Cake

There are few delicious pastries to make with egg whites - Macarons, Meringue pie, etc.  I chose to test make chiffon cake without egg yolks.  I figure it will be like making Angel Food Cake.  

 

These are the ingredients I used:

Need Two 7 inch aluminum Angel Food Cake Molds.

Instead of 125 ml thick coconut milk and vegetable oil, 1 stick soft butter is beaten to pale yellow with 60 g organic cane sugar.

Mix 1Tbsp of Organic Cacao Powder with 60 ml of non-fat lactose free milk.  Tip:  Add 1 tsp of milk into Cacao Powder and mix. Then, add a bit more milk to make into glue.  Then, add the rest.

Add to beaten butter and mix well.  

Add 2 tsp homemade vanilla extract

Shift 180 g flour and hand mix into the butter mixture.

Beat with mixer 30 sec.  And mix thoroughly with spatula.  The batter will look separated - that's okay.  Set aside.

Beat 9 egg whites with 110 g of organic cane sugar to stiff peak. 

Tip:  Whip egg whites 2 min at low - foam starts to form; at Medium speed add sugar approx 1 Tbsp at a time within 4 min - meringue begins to form; at high speed, whip for 3 to 4 min till the stiff peak forms.

I usually hand beat to make meringue because I noticed unbeaten egg whites at the bottom of the mixer bowl.  But I learned to trust my mixer as long as I beat at the highest speed at the end.   

Add 1/3 of meringue into batter and mix with spatula.

Add 1/3 more into batter and fold.  Tip:  move your spatula in circular motion at the top 1/3 of the batter to make sure the meringue is mixed in.

Preheat oven to 325'F.

FOLD in the rest of the meringue in 1/3 more.  Then, fold in the rest of the rest of the meringue.

Pour the batter very slowly about 10 inches away from the cake mold so that visible air pockets closes are you pour.

Bake and check at 35 - 40 minutes for doneness.  Bake for 40 - 45 min till the tester comes out clean. 

Turn it upside down to cool on a baking sheet.

Unmold as usual. 

Serve.