Peanut milk yogurt
Is it even possible? Yes, yes & yes.
Vegan curd, is it even possible? Not all blogs give you the recipe that actually work for a plant based yogurt. In the beginning I tried making peanut milk yogurt and peanut rice milk yogurt. I prefer the former. The rice makes the curd gooey, and I didn’t quite like the texture. It’s actually pretty simple, and the process to make it is almost similar to the regular dairy yogurt.
It takes anywhere between 12–24 hours to set,depending on the ambient temperature. I wouldn’t lie and tell you that it tastes exactly the same as the dairy yogurt. Yes, it tastes a little different, I would say it’s an acquired taste ;)
But, when it is used to make savoury dishes like — Kadhi, dahi-wali arbi or gravies, I personally love it and it doesn’t taste very different. But yes, buttermilk and raita definitely taste quite different.
As I always say we are conditioned to dairy so much that our doors are shut to experimentation. You must give it a shot, as reducing milk consumption definitely helps the ‘moo’ 🐮 gang. And it’s as nutritious as the dairy version :)
What makes yogurt probiotic?
Fermentation caused by friendly microbes and bacteria. So, to kickstart the process of fermentation we basically need a culture that is full of good microbes. The scientific name of the bacteria is Lactobacillus, that uses the sugars and proteins to ferment the plant milk and make it probiotic. Considering there is no lactic acid present in the plant milk, it takes longer to get the tartness, as their is very little amount of acid produced during fermentation.
Let’’s make it!
So how to kick start the process without using the culture from the previous batch of yogurt? That’s what we generally do right? Many vegetables have good bacteria on their skin that can help us. We will be using chilli crowns. Or you can buy culture from a brand that sells heirloom cultures, I have used both. Chilli crowns work quite well. But the heirloom culture gave me a really thick yogurt that starts turning tart on the day 3.
THINGS YOU NEED
1/2 cup peanuts
300 ml water
4 chilli crowns (starter culture) OR heirloom yogurt culture
Muslin cloth
HOW TO MAKE?
Soak peanuts overnight. Grind it into a thick paste adding water little by little. Spread the cloth on a 1 litre vessel. Pour the paste and add the water. Squeeze out the milk till the last drop. Boil the milk for a few minutes to remove the raw smell of the peanuts. Cool it down, until it feels nice and warm on the fingers. Add the chilli crowns / bacteria culture. Keep it aside at a dark, warm and dry place. Never keep it close to a window. If the temperature is low, it will take about 24 hours to set. If the weather is warm it should be done within 1 hours.
So, try it out and definitely use it to make Kadhi or experiment. Do give me a shout out on instagram @happieherbivore if you like it, I would love to see your experiments :)
