kuchh meetha ho jaaye

my first memory of having mishti doi dates back to the mid-1990s. my part of the world was a little away from bengal, and hence, i was unaware of a dish like that till then. niki, my cousin has to be blamed for my ever growing curiosity about food and the way it is prepared.

as i gulped down one spoon after other of that sweet brown yogurt, i remember, i asked her how she made it. i knew how we made yogurt at home but form where did the smoky flavour, the sweet taste, and the brown colour cama? i was amazed. around 13 then, i decided to get to the bottom of the story.

niki finally gave up, told me the secret, and i made for the first time at my home, the mishti doi, a bengali delicacy without which any ceremony in a bengali household is incomplete.

try it, you will like the taste.

ingredients:

milk: 1 litre (full cream)

yogurt: 15-20gm

sugar: 50gm

method:

boil the milk in a heavy-bottomed pan till it is little thick. in a separate pan, melt the sugar. as the sugar caramelizes, add the milk. (alternatively, you can just add the sugar in the milk, but then you will lose the smoky flavour and the essential brown colour.) now let the milk cool down till it's lukewarm. add the yogurt. pour it into either an earthen pot or a casserole. cover the lid and keep it in a cool and dry place to set overnight.

keep the set yogurt in the refrigerator in the morning. serve it cool as a dessert.

my innovation: while boiling the milk, coarsely crush and add one green cardamom. i loved the taste...hope you guys love it too.

till we meet again, happy eating, happy cooking

cheers

PS: photo courtesy google, will try put more of my pictures over time

the journey begins

the idea of mum's kitchen came some years ago when people said i was in the wrong profession. these years passed by conceptualizing the idea, and finally, after a lot of thinking, here it comes. eating and cooking are among my greatest hobbies, in that very order, and cooking, as i keep telling people, remains the greatest stress-buster.

though i remain a journalist by profession, this blog gives my love for cooking a social platform.

since i am often told that i take too long cooking :), mum's kitchen will bring to you, initially, recipes that can be prepared in a jiffy and are easy to cook. the aim remains simple and healthy cooking, which is often a problem with bachelors living alone in a big city. it will bring to you what i learnt from both my mothers, sometimes over the phone, and my innovations to the recipes.

there might be a chance you find the touch of the east in the recipes, but try them if u come across my blog... you will like them.

one can take down notes, try the recipe and cherish it, but anything that is published here is NOT FOR SALE and reproducing any content without prior permission should be considered an offence and violation of copyright.