Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Mishti Doi

"And what are you making for dessert?" I asked
"Sweet curd" she said.
"Adding yogurt culture to sweet milk ?" I asked
" Nah re! like mishti doi, the Bengali sweet you know" she said

My mind flew back to nearly 4 years ago when M and I were in Kolkata and how we had devoured mishti doi everyday, wishing we had some more!
I greedily asked if she know how to make it and I was rewarded not just with the recipe, but the real thing too!

A couple of weeks ago, Prajakta and Rucha, two of my friends dropped in at home and Rucha had this bag in her hand that she plonked on my dining table and smiled as she opened it.
It was sweet curd or mishti doi as I like to call it.
Call it what you will, this simple dessert is rich, creamy and delicious and satisfying. It reminded me of the misti doi in Kolkata and also faintly of the shrikhand my father makes.
The fact that it takes minutes to make just adds to its other merits.

Many moons ago, Prajakta got this recipe from a Bong friend and it has been passed on to many by word -of- mouth and having once tasted it, I can vouch for its popularity and can only regret that I did not know of it earlier.
Rucha's pyrex bowl reminded me that I had to return it and more importantly, make a batch of mishti doi for M ( he was not at home that day). So this weekend I made my first bowl of mishti doi and it was M who, on tasting the first creamy spoonful said," this one is for the blog!"

Here's how I made it:

1 can Evaporated Milk
1 can Sweetened Condensed milk
Yogurt (as per Prajakta, use a can - evaporated milk canful of yogurt)*
Cardamom powder or
crushed nuts of your choice to garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 F.
In a bowl mix the Evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, yogurt ( * I used about 4 tbsp. of thick home made yogurt) (edited to add: I used less yogurt only because I had a little on hand, but I do recommend you use the suggested quantity of 1 evaporated can full of yogurt)
Whisk it together till all three are well blended (I used my hand-held mixer)
Garnish with topping of choice ( I used the milk masala)
Cover the bowl tightly with aluminium foil
Place in the preheated oven and bake for 30 mins.
Switch off the oven and leave the bowl in it for about 5-6 hours
Remove the bowl from the oven and keep in the refrigerator
Serve chilled

Thank you, Prajakta and Rucha!

Pin It

22 comments:

Unknown said...

I so want a piece of that deliciousness right now! Thankyou!

Nupur said...

That is so interesting! Looks delicious.

I am very amazed that after being baked at 350F for 30 mins, the cultures stay alive to then multiply over the next several hours.

Trendsetters said...

I had the chance to eat misti doi at a bengali restaurant The Esplanade, Bangalore. Bengali food is a beautiful belnd of spices and yet so subtle on the taste buds.

loved this dessert...thanks for the recipe..

Mythreyi Dilip said...

Oh i never had this before, but looks absolute tasty. Very yummy!

chakhlere said...

lovely !!! My childhood was filled with this lovely dessert. Yummy one.

suvi said...

Years ago, we lived in Cal and mishti doi was our favourite. This one is a keeper, I can't wait to try this!!

Manasi said...

Thank U Joy, do try it, u will enjoy the rich creaminess!

I was surprised too Nupur and a bit skeptical, I must add, but so glad I tried this.

Thank U Trensdsetters!

Do give it a try , Mythreyi!

Ah!Roopali, another fan of Misti doi!

Aquadaze, thank u, I hope u will like it just as much as we did. Do try it!

Unknown said...

I remember having this during our calcutta trip. Delish!!

Usha said...

I absolutely adore mishti doi and had oodles of it when I visited Calcutta. I would have never thought you had to place in the oven and bake for a while at 350 deg that too! It looks fantastic...definitely something I would love to try...

Nadji said...

A delicious dessert.
Bravo!!

Savithri said...

Yum! I love shrikhand so I'm sure I will be a fan of Mishti Doi:) Thanks for sharing!

delhibelle said...

oh my..another of my favourite sweets..i also have your amrakhand on my mind:)

amna said...

definitely bookmarked!

Anonymous said...

Hey you can also steam this without the weight in a pressure cooker and it hasthe consistency of a Posu (Colostrum milk sweet).

Anu

shahana said...

Firsty time visit to your blog itself impressed me.nice blog with a lot of delicious recipies

Cynthia said...

Happy Holidays!

Vinaya said...

Absolutely delicious! :)reminded me of this dish I had at a Bengali friend's house.

shankari said...

Very very interesting that yogurt is baked :)

Indian Takeaway said...

Looks and sounds delicious might add this one to the menu thanks for sharing

MyExperimentsWithFood said...

Delicious dessert.

Anonymous said...

Love mishit doi. A query - after baking it for 30 mins at 350- it was pretty well set. Inspite of that do I have to keep it for 3 hours before I refrigerate? Another thing, I felt it tasted very good the same day- but had a bigger bowl for the next day-which smelt and tasted a bit sour (like old yoghurt). So is it advisable to make it the same day incase am having guests over so that it doesn't get sour?

Manasi said...

Hi Anonymous, I guess in summer the yogurt will set pretty quickly.
To be honest, I have always followed the procedure exactly.
But here is what I feel, when temps soar, the yogurt ( even plain old, dahi, get sour) so use your judgement, if the curd is very well set, put it in the fridge to firm up and be ready to serve for dessert.
I prefer to make dessert (when possible)ahead, if i can, that way, I do not have to worry about one thing on the day of the party / when guests are comng over.

Share

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape