Make Your Own Yogurt

I've tried so many different yogurt recipes. I made it for awhile and just never got it to be really good, so I quit. While we were living in the capitol, I could buy decent Nestle yogurts, but now that we're in Rajasthan, there's nothing but Saras dahi, which is sour, chunky and watery. Not exactly what I want with my muesli in the mornings. :) After coming back from the US, I determined I MUST figure out a way to make yogurt. I made several attempts before trying this recipe from Market 2 Meal. It's a great site if you want to check it out for some other tips on cooking in an overseas context. I think more ingredients are available where the author lives, so not everything will be do-able for us in a South Asian context, but there is a lot to glean from that site.

Here's the recipe:

2 c. boiled water

2 c. room temp water

2 c. milk powder

2 T. yogurt/dahi

Boil the water. In a separate container (1L) whisk together the room temp. water, dahi and the milk powder. (I use Nestle EveryDay Dairy whitener). Once the water is hot and boiling, pour it into the container with the milk powder. Stir to combine, then close the lid and wrap it in a towel. Leave it for 8-12 hours, depending on how tart you want it. It's been hot enough here that I've just left it on the counter. But you could also stick it in the oven to keep it insulated.

The only alteration I did to this was to add 1/4 c. of sugar to the water that was boiling. I like my yogurt sweet. So do the kids. There is already a bit of sweetness to it because there is some sugar in the milk powder, but I wanted just a little more. I use one of those round plastic containers you can buy in sets of three at all the plastic shops. I usually mix this up in the mid morning and then put it in the fridge overnight for the next day. It literally takes me about five minutes to make!

I admit, I was a bit doubtful because it uses only milk powder and no actual milk, but I'm tellin' ya, this is some good yogurt! :) Thanks to Market2Meal for posting this recipe! It's become a staple in our house!