I tried to ignore the smell, hoping it would sort itself out without any intervention on my part. At first I wasn’t sure where it was coming from until I cleaned the inner pot and the smell persisted.
Eventually it clicked. It was the inner ring that had captured all the Indian spices that I had I been using over the last week. A-ha. I finally realized why people were talking about the inner ring smelling and such.
Ring 
No ring 
Drying the ring
And there you have it. I had a lesson for the week – taking care of the inner ring. I removed the ring and soaked it in soapy water and allowed it to air dry for the day. I was a little stressed about putting it back properly in the cover.
I need not have worried. It was very simple. I mentioned to my co-worker, who has an Instant Pot, about the ring. She said it’s a good idea to have more than one (as I’ve also read on forums). I am also thinking about getting another inner pot BECAUSE I am so tired annoyed with having to wash it after every use. Not a big deal if you’re only using it a couple times a week BUT I am using it every single day that it’s getting tiresome.
However, I have cut down on the use of dishes that I’ve had to wash over the last couple of weeks.
OK now to the fun stuff …
This week has been crazy busy so I stuck to simple recipes that I have made before or just plain rice and beans. I won’t bore you with basic but I made two fun things in the Instant Pot.
I made soy yogurt
Once upon a time, I used to quite enjoy eating soy yogurt as part of my breakfast. Enter bagels, green smoothies and oatmeal, and my life has never been the same again. These days I only buy yogurt to use as a thickener for curries or for other dishes.
Because my yogurt button on my Instant Pot has been calling me, I had to give in. I’ve seen so many people rave or lament over yogurt making that I was a hesitant about making it.
Honestly the most challenging part was finding organic soy milk.
When did finding soy milk become so difficult? I went to three stores before I found what I needed – soy milk with no junk, just soy beans and water. (As an aside, 20+ years ago when I was first vegetarian, that’s all I drank. There was no almond or cashew milk.)
Organic soy milk
I read A LOT of recipes to make yogurt, including the one in the manual. Most called for a probiotic to add to the soy milk. They also had different methods such as heating the milk first, putting the milk in mason jars etc.
One morning I watched a popular video using only two ingredients – soy milk and plain yogurt. This I could get behind. Unfortunately I did not bookmark the video and for the life of me, I cannot find it again. Otherwise I would link it here.
This I remember …… soy milk + a dab of yogurt = 12 hours in the Instant Pot.
Works for me.
I started my yogurt at 7 p.m. so it would be done at 7 a.m. To be honest I was a little nervous that my pot would blow up in the middle of the night. Let’s just say I didn’t sleep well that night.
Ta da! It looked and tasted like yogurt. This picture really didn’t do it justice. I put it the fridge immediately and forgot about it for a few hours. I thought it was a good idea to let it firm up a little more.
I made enough for breakfast all week so I skipped the steel cut oats this week. The yogurt tasted great with frozen blueberries, oats and a tad bit of maple syrup. I still have some left that I will use in cooking.
I don’t eat enough yogurt to make it a weekly thing but I will make enough now and then for my cooking. I have one container of soy milk left that I will keep for my next batch. Next time I may try to add some flavour for fun.
I made special brownies
Recently I celebrated my birthday and my coworker made me a vegan cake. It was so amazingly nice of her. I had just started working at the company so I really really appreciate her support and kindness.
Anyway I wanted to make a treat for her but I am not using my oven this month. Otherwise I would have made my quinoa brittle (best snack ever and the only treat I make). I’ve been wanting to try to make no bake black bean brownies and this would do the trick.
After cooking the black beans in the Instant Pot, I used my food processor to mash them up, add some dark chocolate and dates. They were a hit.
I was a complete disaster making the brownies, they turned out pretty good. In fact the brownies got better every day. I didn’t use much cocoa and the dates were not mashed well enough but people seemed to like my first attempt. (My office mates are my taste testers)
Spicy Tofu
I went out on a limb and tried something without an actual recipe for a guideline. I’ve been trying everything in the Instant Pot over the last three weeks and I am starting to feel pretty comfortable. I think I have the basics down.
Some of my new readers may not know this about me …. I taught English in South Korea for nearly four years. While there I fell in love with spicy Korean food especially red pepper paste or gochujang. It’s what I use to make Korean-inspired cold noodles, cauliflower “wings” and much more.
I’ve been craving a little spice so I thought I would try something new. I didn’t want noodles. I wanted tofu. I took my tofu out of the freezer and let it defrost. Pro tip – always freeze your medium or firm tofu if you want a chewier or meatier texture. I’ve been doing this for years.
After I cut up my tofu,I saute it for a few minutes in the Instant Pot. I mixed up my sauce – gochujang, garlic, sesame oil and apple cider vinegar – and poured it over the tofu in the pot. I added about a half a cup of water because I was worried about it burning or exploding.
I adjusted the pressure cooker timer to 5 minutes and let the magic happen.
AMAZING. It worked like a charm. I don’t know why I was worried. Using an Instant Pot is not complicated. I need to remind myself this. Oh my goodness it tasted so good. I ate it with spinach. It would taste amazing over rice or quinoa. All I can say is YES to tofu in the instant pot.
I’ve seen a few recipes kicking around for making cake in the Instant Pot so I may try that this weekend. What should I make? Please let me know in the comments below.
In case you missed it:
30-Day Instant Pot Challenge: Week 1