Perfect Curd - Home Set

I just love dairy products from my childhood, Of course milk is the base for all and I let go milk, Having milk in various forms salt, sweet sour, solid forms anything I dont mind, Im a Happy Girl who likes to consume milk even after grown up big :D Point to be noted!! Many who know me call me a little girl still lolzz for sure all our elders treat us that way :)

Call it curd or call it yogurt its all one, but just a little difference on how each one likes to call it. To share with all of you setting curd I feel is an art which all of us should learn. Lolz too old a dialogue to say but trust me once you start setting curd at home, its difficult to like the store brought curd. Though store bought curd have its own thickness etc etc stays fresh long without being sour, but what if I tell u, you can set curd same as store brought? Yes you got me right for every word I spoke here. I have better reasoning to explain here how and why :) I just thought of taking little pain for this simple recipe and explain it in detail :D Its more Like 2 marks Answers asked for 10 marks and students dont know how to elaborate lolzz

Seriously this is Home Set Curd :)

Ingredients:
1/2 liter milk (full cream/skimmed)
2 tsp starter curd (always use fresh ones, which is not sour)

Method:

Boil the milk and let it become lukewarm.
Mean While keep the curd starter in a tea strainer hanging in a small bowl, so that all the whey/water from the starter curd drips down into the bowl.
Thick starter curd is set. make sure it is in normal room temp.

In a bigger bowl, take starter curd and whisk

Whisk Whisk Whisk Till you break down all the solid particles into soft cream as shown above :)

Into this pour the warm milk and whisk it again. Make sure milk is almost in dropping temp, other wise you might land up curdling milk :) (experienced it thinking milk is warm enough, but it had to be cooled more)

After whisking milk into starter curd you might find bubbles of air on top dosent mind makes no difference.
(Please check notes how to get rid from air bubbles and make it look like store brought one)

Transfer This into a clean plastic container or steel tiffin or a bowl, anything which suits you. I transfer it into plastic containers usually. But to show curd can be set in any vessel I kept the curd to set in same container in which I had whisked!!!

Now Partially close this vessel with a lid so that dust dont enter, and keep it to rest for 6-7 hrs in a place where no one can disturb it, somewhere u keep and forget!! yet u can see when you walk around :)

After 7 hrs just try to shake a little, if it gets shaken from center you need to give some more time for resting. If its well set it will not move/ leave its sides neither will the center shake. Sometimes we keep it over night when we set curd in the night and keep it back in the fridge in the morning when we wake up (We here is Me & Mom)

Once set close the lid and store in fridge use it when ever desired. Once we start scooping out the curd we can find after sometime water/ whey start releasing. That will not disturb the curd consistency, Its just the nature of the curd. I dont like to waste this water at times, I use up the whole thing.

A little background :
Initially when we tried setting curd it will all turn liquid and runny. but sourness remained that of curd. I was small then and also would frequently get disappointed. I saw my nani (mom's mom) set curd in huge vessel which was sitting there thick and awesome. since then I wanted to learn from her but never got a chance though, until I came across a Food Page in FB.

When I followed the steps I was not sure how it would turn, coz mom always told me to cool down the milk to room temp 1st then add starter. But when I saw the result I was so happy Running around showing everyone at home lolzzz. Of course why not???? its been something I was trying to achieve the result from my childhood. Since Then mom asks me to set curd. But still I do make mistakes :)

Masters of arts cannot make mistake and name it as a creative new art :)

Disasters and Reasoning's:

- Warm milk from top and hot from bottom, so make sure milk is warm to dropping temp otherwise it might tend to curdle if ur not sure abt warm milk after boiling, then let the temp of milk drop fully, and lightly heat the milk vessel  for 1/2 min the warmness which milk will get will be enough to make a start

- Use just 2 tsp - 3 tsp of starter curd. After letting the water drip from strainer. you might be left with only 1 and half tsp thick starter.

- Using thick starter is important as it will give thick consistency to the curd setting. while runny curd used as starter will give runny consistency.

- I never asked mom why keep lid partially open no idea though, she wont have reasoning's for my questions :P I never tried packing up the whole thing and let it to set, If anyone does that let me know how it turns

- Whisking is important as it breaks the solid particles from thick starter, Whisking is also important after adding milk because it allows a gud blend of starter and milk together. If u dont have egg hand whisk use a fork that will work fine. mixer might curdle the whole thing.

- Do not add lots of starter curd thinking It might set more thick. I happen to do this mistake recently and was unaware what goes wrong. When we add more starter curd the particles of curd instead of blending with milk start floating on top resulting a thick curd from top but there will be water formation from below. So the whole thing will be like Earth Land floating on top and Sea Water beneath lolz :P

This pic of the post was taken when I 1st set the curd which got the perfection :) This pic was taken 2 year back in 2011, I was always clicking pics to post in my Fb to show my frnds :) 1st pic also shows porus texture on top due to air bubbles formation during whisking!!

This pic is I tried making Boondi Raita for 1st time with the set curd. I never knew both these clicks would be helpful for my blogging in later years. :)
I wanted to post the last pic along Just to show the thickness of the curd, Its just stiff enough and not runny.


Any Doubts Or If I Had Missed Any Points Do Feel Free To Ask In Comments Section, OMG IF U REALIZED IM SMILING THROUGHOUT THE POST AND YES EVEN NOW. Is such a pleasure to share something like this :)

Open Ur Mouth Taste It AaaaannnnnN!!


Notes:
- Using Full Cream milk or Skimmed milk is your choice, Result will depend acordingly
- The amount of curd im shown in pic for whipping as starter is suitable for 2-3 liters of milk ( did for sake of showing here)
- To get rid of air bubbles I usually strain it in tea strainer or even steel strainer this makes ensure of even distribution of starter throughout, If any particles of starter is left in strainer dont be hesistant to add it back to milk.
- After straining atleast once use a spoon to stir, breaking any more left out air bubbles and then shift to a container pouring slowly, pouring it from a certain height will again form air bubbles.
- Sour Starter may Give Sour Curd even if lil sour makes a difference so always use fresh starter
- Keeps gud for 5-6 days in fridge with cooling temp!!

Plssss plsss plsss!! somebody give me full marks for writing such a big history with just 2 Ingredients HaHaHa!!


This Post might Look Big But To Do is Just 4-5 steps away!!!






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