Mishti Doi-Sweetened Curd

People in Bengal relish Mishti doi a lot.Now here in a foreign land ,I don’t have the luxary to go to a sweet shop near by and get mishti doi sold in small earthen vessels .For that matter,I have to re-create every possible thing that I miss eating here from scratch sometimes.
Mishti doi was something on my mind for past few months now.I know there are possibly 100 of recipes out in net.But when I peeked into my pantry, I was running short of condensed milk, had only evaporated milk.All the recipes which I came across used heavily condensed milk.I decided to take on with whatever I had in my pantry.I had plain yogurt and whole milk and also evaporated milk.So these three formed the base ingredients for mishti doi for me.While making ,I realized that here you need quite a big amount of plain yogurt to set sweetened yogurt.Although they say It’s live culture but still at least 1 cup of yogurt is required , now why I am saying this because I am habitual of using very few tsp , to be precise 2-3 tsp of live culture/yogurt to set my home-made curd back home.I think it may be due to the climate here or the cold weather.Whatever…
Anyways , I was determined to re-create the taste of mishti doi in home , so started with the ingredients that I had in my pantry.So, here how I tried to made it , and did I say it was the most pleasurable thing that I have eaten so far coming to here.One mouthful of it and you will go mmm……utterly delicious , a splendid discovery for me.It has become a keeper recipe for me now.


Mishti Doi
2 and half or 3 cups of whole milk
1 cup of evaporated milk(carnation)
1 cup of plain yogurt(onken)
7-8 tbs of water
8-9 tbs of sugar ( or as per taste)

Method

1. Reduce the milk to half over a low flame.It will take approx 45 -50 mints to reduce it to half.You can speed up the process at med-low flame ,but you will have to stir it continously then.
2. Meanwhile in a separate pan , make a sugar syrup by dissolving the sugar in water .The syrup should be thick in constitency (adjust the sweetness according to taste ).Back home ,I know some even use batasha( a sugary or jaggery preparation for a part of prasad that is being offered to God) for it also.They simply make the syrup with Batasha.

(Usually sugar is melted at low flame till it dissolves completely, this carmelization of sugar ,gives the distinct colour to the curd, and also since the milk is bit thickened).However I made a thick sugar syrup and added as per taste.

Next time I am going to make the syrup with Maple syrup and see if the colour of milk changes or not.
3. Now add the evaporated milk(carnation ) to the reduced milk( sometimes when you add evaporated milk to hot milk, it may spill out ,watch out while adding evaporated milk to hot milk)Switch off the flame, take out in a separate vessel.

4. Add the sugar syrup slowly , add half the content ,taste it and then add the later portions if you feel there is need to add more sweet.The syrup will be quite thick, reheat it if there is need.
5. Mix in 1 small cup or 5-6 tbs of plain yogurt(onken) to the above.Make sure the milk is not very hot ,otherwise the bacteria/live culture may get destroyed and it will not help .Gently mix with a spoon.Now the fun part ,take the other pan and drop the entire mixture to it and again shift the mixture content to previous pan .This helps in blending the mixture well.When you see a nice froth/bubbles has formed , stop mixing it.
6. Now set the curd in an oven.Place a baking tray with water .Now set the oven temp at 170 deg celcius. Transfer the entire content to the a baking dish , I used my loaf pan for this purpose.
Bake for 20 mints.Switch off the oven.
7. Let the baking dish sit there for 10-15 mints more.TIP-If you tap the pan gently ,you will see the yogurt has set , if not ,then again transfer it in hot oven and wait for another 10 mints .I could not resist the temptation, so I tasted it with a spoon.See at the corner, the water has come out showing the curd is all set.

8. Now take out , cool and then refridgerate it.Chill it for 2-4 hrs.Serve and enjoy.
There is a traditional way of making sweetened curd that is by reducing the milk and then adding the sugar syrup and yogurt , but the setting is in earthen vessels.

one more close look and trust me it is not easy to control the temptation .

Note- If you are in India, add only 1-2 tsp of Doi/Yogurt and let it set there.Adding 1 cup of doi will spoil the mishti doi and the milk may curdle.
Few good recipes about Mishti Doi
---- Bongmom's Bhapa Doi
--- Pressure cooker method at Enjoy Indian Food
---- Traditional method at Sutapa's Webpage By Gupta Brothers

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