Call it superstition, tradition, or a mother’s blind love; having a spoonful of ‘dahi-cheeni’ before an exam, interview or auspicious occasion can turn the odds into your favour!
I’m not sure if this widely popular Indian household ritual actually brings any luck but it’s surely a tasty one! Dahi-cheeni literally translates to yogurt mixed with sugar. In my neighbourhood, it was a fairly common scene to see mums hurriedly run behind their children, forcing them to open their mouths wide and shoving a spoonful of dahi-cheeni on an important day.
Although my mum never used it as a good luck charm, she used to offer dahi-cheeni as ‘thanks’ to God upon receiving some good news or make it for ‘prasad’ on some festivals. I do the same now. It’s one of those little things which keep her and her memories alive in my life. It’s her birthday today. I couldn’t think of anything better than a fancier version of dahi-cheeni called ‘Mishti Doi’ to mark the day!
Mishti Doi (sweet yogurt in Bengali) comes from the state of West Bengal, India. It has become extremely popular in North India too and relished on hot summer days. The recipe doesn’t involve any complicated steps but it does need some love and attention as small things like the temperature of the milk, the texture of the yogurt matter a lot. The minute the first bite of chilled creamy, caramelised mishti doi touches your palette, I assure you, you’ll think the effort was worthwhile!
Dedicating the post to my Maa; who left for her heavenly abode last year, leaving us with her ‘mishti memories’. Hope you’re having a lovely day Mummy, wherever you’re. Buckets full of love and big bear hugs!
Mishti Doi
Enjoy the steps!
Ingredients
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 cup brown sugar (or powdered jaggery)
- 1/2 cup hung curd (or Greek yogurt)
- 2 tsp water
- Optional garnish: slivered almonds and pistachios, rose petals
Directions
- In a thick-bottomed non-stick pan, add milk and let it boil on medium-low heat. Stir regularly and boil until it thickens and reduces to half.
- In another pan, add sugar, water and mix well. Stir on medium-low flame until the sugar melts completely and caramelises into a brown syrup.
- Add caramalised sugar into milk, stir vigorously and give it one last boil. Allow the milk to cool down for 10-12 minutes. Make sure it’s warm (not too hot, not cold).
- While the milk is cooling down, in a big bowl add hung curd and whisk until it’s smooth and creamy.
- Now, one ladle at a time, add warm milk into the whisked curd. Whisk the milk and curd mix until super smooth. You should now have a creamy, slightly frothy, light brown milk base.
- Transfer into clay or ceramic pots, cover with aluminium foil, and rest in a warm palace for 6-8 hours. Once set, refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Creamy, dreamy ‘mishti doi’ is now ready. Garnish as per choice and serve chilled!
Tips:
- To make hung curd, take 1 cup curd (also called natural yogurt). Pour it in a muslin cloth, squeeze out all the water and hang it in a sieve-over a-bowl-set-up for a minimum of 30 minutes.
- For that ‘thick-sweet-shop-like’ texture, bake the set curd for 10 minutes at 150 C before refrigerating.
- Please note that the recipe time has been calculated on the cook and prep time basis. Resting and chilling times have not been accounted for.
