Thursday, June 15, 2017

1100. Home Made Yogurt


I am a strong believer that every one of us is responsible to support local produce and buy seasonal produce. This is not just a lesson in community values, but it is also better for your health (less chemicals and GM go into seasonal fruits) and better for your tastebuds (the reason why tomatoes smell and taste so much better in the Summer). So for this MENA Club entry, I am highlighting Qatari local produce.
I bought a tub of this gorgeous cow-sheep-goat milk blend yogurt sold in adorable ceramic containers from the company Baladna. I decided to make use of this ceramic pot by making my own yogurt, using an inoculate from the original, and a bottle of fresh milk from another Qatari dairy company named Rawaa. The result was delightfully successful, leaving me ambitiously willing to forever churn my own yogurt as it is so easy to do so, and all I need to do is reserve a quarter cup of the yogurt each time.


Ingredients:

1/4 cup live-culture yogurt
900ml milk


Method:

Warm the milk in a large saucepan until steaming but not yet boiling. Set aside to cool enough to stick your finger in warm milk. Too hot will kill your culture, too cold and it won't multiply well.
Once warm, pour about a cup over your culture and whisk gently to thin out. Return the thinned yogurt to the rest of the milk, stir to combine, and pour back into your final pot. Cover the pot, wrap in a towel, and set in a warm area for at least 4 hours, or up to overnight. Th longer it sits, the firmer and tangier it gets. Summer in Qatar is the perfect atmosphere for yogurt setting, so I just left mine outside in the 40C weather for about 6 hours.
Carefully transfer to the refrigerator overnight, where it will set even more. Keeps well refrigerated for 10 days to 2 weeks. Don't forget to save a quarter cup to make again!


صحة و عافية


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