Homemade Yogurt - Indian style

Making yogurt at home is not a big deal in India. Setting the yogurt is a daily chore. It is a part of routine to boil milk and add a spoonful of the day's leftover yogurt to it before going to bed. The next day you have a perfectly creamy yogurt. I am a big fan of such homemade yogurt for its texture and taste. I truly missed it when I first tasted yogurt in the US. My yogurt consumption subsided noticeably. Though I missed the fresh yogurt that I was used to eating, I eventually got used to this new taste . I have tried setting the yogurt with plain store bought yogurt, but never got the results.

Some days back I read a post on One Hot Stove about making homemade yogurt. I was so excited to read it. Nupur mentioned that she used Yogourmet culture. I decided to give it a shot and went to the local organic grocery store. There were a couple of yogurt starters. As soon as I saw a packet of Yogourmet, I jumped on to it :) I simply followed the instructions on the packet and woke up to a perfect yogurt I was dreaming for.

I used the following -
4 cups whole milk
1 sachet of Yogourmet culture (5gm)


I boiled the milk and let it cool. Since I did not have a candy thermometer, I used my judgment to gauge the temperature of milk and added the culture to the warm milk. I let it sit for about 6-7 hours and got amazing results. You must read the original post by Nupur (and I strongly recommend it) where she has explained the process step by step in detail. I cannot thank her enough for letting us know about this yogurt culture. The only reason I am writing this post is because I am super excited to see the way this yogurt turned out.

Another thing that I did differently was that I did not remove the malai (skin that forms on the milk) before adding culture. That is the thick patch you see on yogurt in the picture above. It is all malai that happened to set on one side of the casserole. I wanted to see if I can churn any butter, but that did not succeed. Anyway I am happy that I can now eat fresh yogurt everyday :)

March 2: An update
Today I tried setting a new batch of yogurt with the leftover yogurt from previous batch and it worked beautifully :)

Happy Holi with Puranpoli

It is Holi today. Holi or the Festival of colors is a widely celebrated festival in India. In Maharashtra, Holi is celebrated by burning a pyre of wood, which symbolizes triumph of good over evil. Holi means Puranpoli.

Except for last some years, there had never been a year when I did not eat Puranpoli on the day of Holi. Last time I made Puranpoli was 4 years back. But it was so much of work, that I did not make it after that. This year both A and I were craving for Puranpoli, so I decided to make it. I would like to dedicate this post to my Mami (aunt) who taught me how to make it. I was about 20-21 when I first tried my hand at Puranpoli and I definitely give her the credit for it. Thank you Mami!

But, before I write this post let me say this loud and clear that though I know the process of making Puranpolis, I am not an expert. I must tell you that I make very good Puran and I can make a very good poli (chapati), but I am not that good when it comes to making Puranpoli :) Those who have tasted a real Puranpoli should know what I mean. Anyway... I still keep on trying hoping that one day I too will master this art.

Puranpoli is made by stuffing Puran (which is a concoction of cooked chana dal and jaggery) inside a whole wheat dough.

Ingredients for Puran:
1 cup chana dal (pressure cooked until soft)
1 cup jaggery
1/2 tsp of nutmeg powder or cardamom powder


In a deep pan, mix cooked chana dal and jaggery and let it cook thoroughly. The mixture will start to thicken and will look dry. To check if Puran is ready, make the spatula/spoon stand in it. If it falls or leans, it means that you need to cook it more. If the spoon stands strong, your Puran is good to go. However, to use this Puran for making poli, you need to make it soft and free of lumps. You can use a food mill or simply your food processor. Once you have this soft puran, add nutmeg powder or cardamom powder to it as per your liking.


To make dough for Puranpoli, mix the following in a bowl -
1 cup whole wheat flour (sifted)
1 tbsp all purpose flour (sifted)
1 tbsp sooji/rawa (sifted)
A pinch of salt

To the above, add water to form a loose dough. Once you form a loose dough keep adding oil until it becomes soft and elastic. You probably would need about a quarter cup of oil. Let it sit for about half an hour. When ready, the dough will look like this -


To make Puranpoli, start by taking a small ball of dough, and roll it out a little just so that you can stuff the Puran in. Now, take a ball of Puran and put it inside the dough and close all sides. Roll it out and cook both sides on a pan. Puranpoli is ready to be served.


Serve it hot or at room temperature. Puranpoli is generally served with ghee, milk or Katachi amtee (a tamarind based curry); ghee being the most popular.

Wish you all a very happy Holi!

No cook event: Chutney Sandwiches

There are a lot of different events hosted by food bloggers. There are some food bloggers who are extremely creative and come up with some fabulous ideas. Until now, I did not follow any particular food blog, but came across some posts that were entries to different blogging events. I am still very new to the world of blogging (read food blogs) and have never participated in any event before. Some time back I stumbled upon a blog called " One Hot Stove" by very talented and super-creative Nupur. She hosted a 7 day recipe marathon from December 25 to December 31 counting down to new year - One dish every day. Of course I came to know about it after it was over.

Last month I learnt about a recipe repost event by Jaya of "Desi Soccer Mom", but I was late again :( She told me about the "No Cook Event" this month hosted by "PJ". I thought it would be interesting to see what different dishes people come up with where there is zero cooking involved. I just went through my previous posts and was surprised to find quite a few dishes with no cooking at all. The dishes that could qualify for this event are -Swiss Rolls, Bhel, Mango Chutney and Shrikhand. But, I decided to post a new one for this event. Considering the little time that I have on hand, I thought Chutney Sandwiches would be a perfect dish for this event. So here is my very first entry to any food blog event.

Chutney Sandwiches:

I decided to go with chutney sandwiches as they can be ideal for breakfast or even brunch. Chutney can be made ahead of time and sandwiches can be assembled in absolutely no time. Apart from being very tasty, it is a healthy meal option.


Ingredients for chutney:
1 cup grated coconut (fresh or frozen)
3/4 green chillies (or as per taste)
Handful of cilantro
Juice of half lime/lemon
1.5 tsp sugar
Salt to taste

Grind together green chillies, coconut and cilantro into a fine paste. Take out in a bowl and add lime juice, sugar and salt. Chutney is ready. You can also add some mint leaves while grinding. Sometimes I also use spinach and grind it with other ingredients. Spinach gives chutney a nice green color. All you people who hate spinach, trust me - you wouldn't even taste it in the chutney.

To assemble the sandwiches, butter the bread and slather chutney onto it. Top it off with the veggies of your choice. I used only the tomato and cucumber this time.


I often make a multilayer sandwich with different veggies in different layers. You can also have one layer of chutney and another with a slice of cheese and veggies. It makes a great lunch too. It is also a very good option to take along for picnics.

And now off it goes to PJ's No cook Event!

Veggie Cutlets

As a kid I loved everything that was coated with bread crumbs slightly fried on oil, and I still do. Mom used to make veggie cutlets quite a few times. My brother and I loved them for all the tasty reasons and mom loved making them because that way she made us eat all those veggies that we normally would not eat. She also made sure that those weren't too oily. If you don't like certain veggies, this is a good way to eat them. Potato is the important ingredient in this dish as it binds the veggies together.

Ingredients:
3 boiled potatoes (mashed)
1 medium onion (chopped)
2 cups carrot (peeled & shredded)
1 cup green peas
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp red chilli powder (more or less as per taste)
Salt to taste
Oil
Bread crumbs for coating


1. In a pan saute the carrots and onions until tender. You can add the veggies of your choice. Shredded beets can be used instead of carrots.
2. Add mashed potato, peas, red chilli powder and salt, and mix very well. Make sure that potatoes you add aren't too mushy.
3. Take some of this mixture and form patties. Coat all sides of this patty with bread crumbs.
4. Coat the bottom of a skillet with some oil and fry both sides of the patty until bred crumbs turn golden-brown. Serve with tomato ketchup.

The above mix makes about 20-22 palm size cutlets.