Enriched with Yogurt

How is it already mid-February? Sorry for the lack of posts the last month. My laptop decided to die and so I have been sans computer and inundated with school, reading, project proposals, etc, and thus, unable to pay much attention to the blog. However, busyness can be a good thing; for me, I function at my best when I am juggling many tasks, especially when some of those tasks include cooking. For some reason, when I am busy, I just want to do more. And so, the past couple weeks have yielded some exciting food adventures, including making yogurt from scratch!

A couple of Saturdays ago we had some friends over for a curry night and checked out a great book from the library on Indian cooking, I Love Curry, by Anjum Anand. We made two delicious curries, a mild coconut chickpea curry and a spicy butternut squash Andhra curry. Earlier in the week I made a runner bean (green bean) chutney, a popular chutney in Devon and one that Ryan and I love to eat on toast with cheese! Once I started cooking, I was inspired to keep trying new things, and so when I came upon a recipe to make yogurt from scratch in Anjum's book, I just couldn't resist. I had talked with one of my classmates about making yogurt and we understood it to be a tedious process that required careful monitoring of heat for 8 hours. But according to Anjum, it is super easy! Not only was it easy, it made the most delicious yogurt that continued to develop a wonderful tang as the week progressed. We've been making a batch of yogurt every week since!

1.2 L whole milk (or low fat if you want low fat yogurt)

1/3 cup of leftover yogurt (make sure you buy pro-biotic plain yogurt)

Bring milk to a gentle boil and let simmer for 8-10 minutes on low heat, uncovered, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool to body temperature (lukewarm). Whisk in yogurt, cover, and let sit in a warm oven for 8 hours (I heat my oven to 200F, turn it off, and leave the yogurt in there overnight). After 8 hours, transfer the yogurt to a container for storage in the fridge. Keeps in the fridge up to 5 days. Yogurt will be sweet the first day and develop more of a tang each day. Use the remnants on the last day to make another batch!

This yogurt made a great addition to some whole-wheat pancakes we made this morning! Remember, there's nothing that adds meaningfulness and satisfaction to busyness than a batch of versatile yogurt! Enjoy!