Homemade Yogurt (using yogurt maker)

 

 

We may live in a western country but my kitchen is very much an Indian kitchen. For the few years that I have been running my household, it is probably about three times that I have ran out of this commodity - yogurt. It is so important in my house that I stock a full rack of it in the fridge. Yogurt is not particularly cheap, especially good quality one. So one day we decided we should give making yogurt at home a try. We did it for sometime in insulated boxes (hot box) and also in ceramic dishes which I would keep in the oven at low heat. These worked ok but not consistently. We gave up at that point and revisited this later and decided to buy yogurt maker. It was about £20 so even if I made yogurt 20 times without buying 20 boxes of yogurt, we would have recovered the money spent. The math was quite simple so we went ahead and bought it from Lakeland. Later we bought a few extra containers so we did not have to wait to empty the container to make the next batch.

I have had success with it from day one but that did not stop me from trying various methods of making yogurt so we could replicate the same texture, taste and consistency that my mom used to achieve. Here are some of the ways I tried:

1. I added a couple of spoons of milk powder to increase the protein content so we could get thicker yogurt. Result was good but we did not want to continue this as it meant we added a processed ingredient i.e. milk powder

2. added a couple of spoons of sugar and set the yogurt. It worked well and was consistent. However, some felt it was a bit sweet. The extra sugar gives more food for the bacteria that eventually makes the curd.

3. Added salt and some sugar and set the yogurt. Again, this worked well but wanted to see if the salt and sugar could be avoided.

 

 

After all this, here are some simple steps:

1. Take a litre of milk (I use whole milk) in a heavy bottom pan and heat it. You want to heat slowly and until the milk rises up like a balloon

2. Cool this to nearly room temperature. I just leave it on the counter to cool. Then pour into the yogurt maker container. If the milk is still warm, it will kill the bacteria so you will not get good yogurt.

3. Add about three spoonful of good yogurt. I keep a pot of greek yogurt from the supermarket which I use as the starter. Stir well and put the container into the yogurt maker and turn it on. You could use the clock on the yogurt maker if it has one but it does not stop automatically. I usually leave it overnight or through the day depending on when I kickstart.

4. I take it out of the yogurt maker and leave it out for further time. About 24 hours after I start the process, I would put it in the fridge. You could use it straight away after the 8 hours that it typically takes to set in the yogurt maker but I found the texture improves if I leave it out a bit further.

It is normal for some whey water to get collected on top of the yogurt. It is perfectly ok to consume this. I must say some brands of milk set better than some others. So I would suggest you try a few brands that you get so you can find what works best wherever you live.

Shortcrust Pastry

Shortcrust Pastry (Vegan and non Vegan/Low fat variant included)

This is a basic recipe that one may chose to use for sweet as well as savory dishes. If one wants the pastry to also be sweet, you could add couple of spoons of sugar to the flour. I have given below two versions of the pastry. One is the most common and ‘original’ recipe and the next one is suppose to be a more healthy version as it has wholewheat flour and also made using olive oil rather than butter/margarine. You could choose which version you like for the dish you are preparing...

1 cup all purpose flour

½ cup butter/margarine, cold and diced

Pinch of salt

Using your fingertips mix the butter/margarine with flour. If needed add couple of spoons of ice cold water and make a soft dough

Use as mentioned in the recipe

Wholewheat shortcrust pastry

½ cup all purpose flour

¾ cup whole wheat flour

50-60ml (1/4 cup) olive oil
Pinch of salt
2-3 tablespoons sugar
Cold water

Add the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl and add the olive oil. Mix so it looks like breadcrumbs and add water and make a soft dough that is well combined

use as mentioned in recipe

Garam Masala

Garam Masala


One of the essential ingredients in an Indian kitchen is garam masala. If you eat south Indian food only you may not need it often. I tend to use it in sabjis, gravies or even pulavs. I used to buy readymade garam masala from the store but there came a point when they were infested with tiny bugs so I took that as my excuse to spend some time making my own masala. After looking at a number of recipes online, I finally chose to follow Tarla Dalal’s Punjabi Garam masala. The quantities specified in the book was too much for me so I scaled it down so I could make the powder for say about 2-3 months of cooking. What I noticed with home made garam masala was that you need far less quantity than store bought masala. For some dishes, I have used just couple of pinches and enjoyed the flavours coming through. So the said quantity will come a long way. Each one makes their blend differently, for instance you could add a small piece of javatri, some black pepper corn . You could use this as your basic recipe and try to add ingredients to your taste. This is one recipe that will have to do without pictures for now as I did not take any and do not intend to make another batch in the next couple of months. I still wanted to post the recipe as I have had quite a few people ask for it.

¼ cup cumin seeds
1/8 cup coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cloves
4-5 cinnamon sticks
4-5 bay leaves
1 teaspoon caraway seeds/aniseeds/saunf
2 tablespoon cardamom pods
½ teaspoon dry ginger powder

Roast all ingredients except the dry ginger powder until they are all aromatic. Ensure the flame is low so they get roasted well. Breakdown cinnamon sticks to small pieces so they are all of similar size and do not over or under roast. Cool and grind to powder along with dry ginger powder

Store in an airtight container and use as required

Apple Butter

Apple Butter


I happened read in a few places about how apple butter can be used to replace butter in some baked dishes. I would not cut out the butter completely but would rather substitute some portion of it with a low fat alternative. Usually apple butter recipe contains apple cider or some use apple juice. As I did not have either at home, I went for just water. My intent was to use it in baked dishes so I did not sweeten it or add any spices. If you would like to use it as a spread then you could add some sugar and spices like nutmeg, cinnamon etc. Am sure it would be a great addition to porridge. My apple butter recipe is very similar to how you would prepare apple for a baby. However, it does the job of replacing most of the butter. I have read that it keeps well in the fridge for a week or two but I am hoping to finish it off sooner.

6 apples, cored, peeled and chopped
¼ cup water

Add water to the chopped apples and cook covered in a saucepan. Cook until apple becomes soft.

Using a blender just pulse the apple. Do not blend too well as it will become like puree.

How to Make Low Fat Khoya

How to Make Low Fat Khoya


I have seen a few rich recipes i.e. high calorie recipes with lots of nuts, milk cream etc. One of the common ingredients in those was khoya. It is nothing but unsweetened condensed milk which is usually solidified. Milk is heated for a long time until it comes to a semi-solid to solid state and once cooled, it almost solidifies. This is then used in many sweet dishes and also to enrich some gravies. I usually do not use this because I cannot be bothered making the khoya, watching the milk forever. It can be done quicker in a microwave but as I do not use it anymore, I just avoid this as an ingredient. Not so long ago I got a number of books by Tarla Dalal and one of those was low calorie sweet. Usually I think once one decides to have sweets, there is no point in keeping it low fat and low calorie and should just have the treat once and stay away from it for a while. However, for more regular sweet eaters, it is easier said than done. I found her way of making low fat khoya not just simple but also quick. I tried it today to make a dessert and came out well. I may make this more often especially for some mughlai gravies. Here is how I followed her recipe...

1 cup semi skimmed milk powder
Water

Mix few tablespoons of water to the milk powder to make it a stiff dough. The book said two tablespoons, however, I needed about 8 to get anywhere near a dough like consistency.

Wrap this in a thin white cloth and steam for about 15 minutes. Cool and grate and use as suggested in recipes.

This is not quite a recipe in itself but quite useful to know this shortcut to a low fat khoya as an ingredient to other dishes