Dahi

Milk soured by its own bacteria, and the starter can be a dried chilli stem.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (whole milk), dairy (yoghurt).

Ingredients

• 1 litre whole milk
• 2 tablespoons live plain yoghurt, as a starter

Method

1. MILK SOURED BY ITS OWN BACTERIA, AND THE STARTER CAN BE A DRIED CHILLI STEM. The second half is the detail nobody would guess and its article states it plainly: CURD STARTER IS SOMETIMES MADE WITH DRIED RED CHILLIES (OR THEIR STEMS) IN HOT MILK. The stem carries enough lactic bacteria to begin the whole thing, which is how a household with no yoghurt left starts again from nothing.
2. THE PROCESS IS FERMENTATION AND THE ARTICLE NAMES THE ORGANISMS. CURD IS MADE BY BACTERIAL FERMENTATION OF MILK. IN THIS PROCESS, LACTOSE IN MILK IS CONVERTED INTO LACTIC ACID BY SEVERAL PROBIOTIC MICROORGANISMS, and THE SPECIES INVOLVED IN THE FERMENTATION DEPENDS ON THE TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY OF THE ENVIRONMENT. Which is why dahi made in one kitchen never tastes quite like dahi made in another.
3. AND THE ARTICLE IS PRECISE ABOUT THE WORDS. THE WORD CURD IS USED IN INDIAN ENGLISH TO REFER TO HOMEMADE YOGURT, WHILE THE TERM YOGURT REFERS TO THE PASTEURIZED COMMERCIAL VARIETY. This page is the homemade one.
4. BOIL THE MILK AND THEN COOL IT TO BLOOD HEAT. Boiling clears out whatever else was living in it; cooling to about 45 degrees is what the starter needs. Your little finger should be able to stay in it for a slow count of ten.
5. TOO HOT KILLS THE STARTER AND TOO COOL LETS IT STALL. This is the only thing that goes wrong with dahi. If you have no thermometer, the finger test is better than guessing.
6. WHISK THE STARTER INTO A LITTLE OF THE WARM MILK FIRST, THEN STIR IT THROUGH. Two tablespoons to a litre. More is not faster and makes it sour rather than set.
7. COVER IT AND LEAVE IT SOMEWHERE WARM AND STILL, FOUR TO SIX HOURS. An oven with the light on, or a cupboard with a towel round the pot. Do not move it, do not stir it, do not look at it for the first three hours: a set curd that is jogged while setting separates.
8. INTO THE FRIDGE THE MOMENT IT SETS, AND KEEP TWO SPOONS BACK. It should wobble as one mass and show a clean break on a tilted spoon. Those two spoons are the starter for the next litre, and a household batch can run for years that way.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes