[Indian Recipes] Sweet Yogurt

Bengali mishti doi / sweet yogurt is the quintessential dessert without which a Bengali lunch can be said as complete.

Ingredients:

Milk (full cream): 500 ml
Date jaggery (crushed) : 2-3 tbsp
Curd: 2 tsp with live culture bacteria

Method :

Heat the milk in a heavy bottom pan and reduce it to 1/2 of its original quantity.

Take off from the heat and let it cool slightly for couple of minutes.

Add the date jaggery to the milk and mix it vigorously till the jaggery completely dissolves into it..  Check for the sweetness , if requires add more . Let it cool to room temperature. Date jaggery can be replaced with caramelized sugar.

Add the curd (it should have live culture bacteria) to the lukewarm milk and whisk thoroughly. The culture should spread evenly.

If you are not sure about the curd, then first try to set a regular dahi / yogurt at home. If it works then it should work for mishti doi as well.

Pour the mixture into a terracotta or clay pot and keep in a warm place (preferably near gas stove / or in an incubator) for 10-12 hours, may be overnight to set , so that you can enjoy it next day.

Sugar or jaggery in the milk actually inhibits the setting of yogurt, so it takes long time to set. Try to make mishti doi preferabaly in summer months when the avearge temperature rises to more then 32 degree celcius.

Once set, refrigerate and serve the chilled mishti doi as a dessert.

This recipe and image sources are referred in website: Saffronstreaks.com. Thanks so much!