Food Talk  Discussion Forum

I stay in UK and really want to make curd at home. I have tried boiling the milk and then setting it for curd but it doesnt work. Does anyone have any ideas? also, are there any good curd making appiances available in UK?

Hope to get some replies, the ready yoghurts here just dont feel the same.

Roopa usha replied. Hi roopa,

where do u stay in UK..? bcoz im in UK..in london,n my place is goodmayes..whts ur mother tongue..?

i generally take Biopot yogurt in Tesco stores..its good..i never tried at home..sometimes greek style yogurt also taste good ..y don't u try that..if possible just reply..can bcom friends..

bye Rashmi replied. Hi ! Roopa

I stay in US . I also make curd at home.
Milk should be boiled and cooled.Remove the cream(malai) from milk and warm it(little bit hot). put some curd in the milk and stir it. And in the meantime preheat the oven at 250 F and just put your container in the oven for overnight or for 6-8 hours.
When it is done refrigerate it for 1-2 hours for better results

NOTE: In the summertime just put it outside or in the oven ( no need to preheat the oven)
It worked for me. Hope it will work for you too CurdSetter replied. The trick for setting good curd lies in right temperature of milk with respect to the temperature of the weather.

I dont know about UK, but I think process of setting curd in your home should be similar to setting curd when weather is v cold here in India, considering that temperature inside your kitchen must not be chilly like outside.

We are north indians and homemade curd is an integral part of our both meals. I m giving u the process, but u ll need to try it out a few times to know your right temperature to b successful.

-After you do the kitchen at night (after dinner etc) Take 1/2 litre milk (slim/half-cream/fullcream, anything). Heat it to a temperature more than lukewarm (in winters, and just lukewarm in indian summers).
-Put it in a vessel (i use a steel one with wide mouth).
-Put half tbsp curd (also called Jaaman in hindi) right in the milk.
- If its winter: Take one more vessel and mix the milk+curd like this : Hold the vessel with milk+curd in one hand and raise it high till your head and then pour it into the empty vessel from that height (adjust height enough to pour and not to spill!) ... just like the way they cool hot-coffee in south ... .
- Repeat this mixing so that at last the mixture lands into the first vessel and there is good \" jhaag/foam\" types created on top of milk due to mixing.
If its indian summer, do not mix curd and milk, do not move/shake the bartan. Just put 1/2 teaspoon curd in centre
- now Keep the bartan in microwave and cover it with lid. Close the microwave and go to sleep. In the morning you will find smooth, flat curd set.
(I hv not asked you to heat milk/curd in microwave. Microwave is used as a covered, slightly warmer place which will help retain milk's temperature longer than outside. As we use microwave for heating up things for dinner, its inside is warmer.)

Note the following points
1) To retain milk's warmth for longer period, after putting lid on the bartan, wrap and cover it nicely with a towel or something and then put it in microwave
2) if not microwave, cover with lid and towel as said above, and keep it in a kitchen shelf .. or any covered place which u know is warmer than open.
3)Temp of milk and quantity of putting curd in milk also varies with weather. In summers, milk need not be so hot, just lukewarm. And a baby-spoonful of curd can help.
In winters, milk needs to be hotter than lukewarm and qty of curd also little more.

Experiment with temperature of milk first and then with qty of curd.

4)if ur milk was less hot than required, your curd will not set and you will find it as milk next morning. In that case, heat up some milk till its very hot, mix it again with your unset-milk by using 2 vessels as mentioned above and let it set again. Takes 2-3 hrs.

5) if your milk was too hot or qty of curd/jaaman was more than needed, then your curd will be watery or sticky. Less qty of curd will not set the curd.

6) a good curd will set a good curd. Sweet curd will set sweet curd. I m assuming u wd buy curd from market to start. So let me tell you that different brands of curd can give u diff results.

7) it takes atleast 2.5 - 3 hrs to set curd. Do not disturb the curd before that time.

Try this out and post msg if u still hv doubts.