Being in cold climate country half the year, setting curd is a big problem. For many years, I tried setting curd ,sometime it would be success but most time it is failure because inside home temperature won’t be same ,so either the curd won’t be set or the curd turned to be slimy and smelly. Three years back I bought instant pot and it was in my pantry and dusting. I came to know preparing curd in instant pot and gave a try and didn’t returned back to buying curd again in shop. Past 3 years,I am setting curd following this method and not even single time gone wrong when followed exactly the way I mentioned below. I am one among who thought, who use instant pot and it’s difficult to clean after and also it takes my countertop space. Believe me, try once like me. You won’t feel to clean the inner pot after making this thick curd. Most of the time, I set my curd when I was cooking my meal so we don’t have to spend time alone for this. Just boil milk in instant pot and then once warm add curd/yogurt culture and set yogurt option and leave it and forget it. Ingredients for this dish is less but the steps to follow is main part. Initially ,you make think it is difficult to remember all steps and difficult to follow. Believe me, just try once .you will know how easy it is .
Ingredients:
Milk : 2 liter/ 0.5 gallon
Curd/ yogurt culture( regular curd) : 3 tbsp
Instant pot
Recipe:
* Wash the inner pot inside instant pot and make sure it doesn’t have any stains inside( any impurities will curdle the milk and spoil it).
* Make sure the gasket inside instant pot lid is washed and set correctly .( Most of the time,the cooked items colleacted in this gasket).
* Check inside the instant pot before placing inner pot.( once it happened to me, some place mat was inside ,I didn’t check and placed the inner pot and ON it,the place mat burned and fumed.)
* Try to use whole milk give have the fat content which helps to get thick curd.
Step 1:
Pour milk inside the cleaned inner pot and close the lid. Turn the release value from venting mode to sealing mode and make sure it is pressed( If not pressed properly,when milk boils,milk leaks out through this release valve. Once it is set, in your instant pot menu ,press SAUTÉ option.( This option works for me to boil the milk)( you can also use steam option or press “YOGURT” option twice to get boil option to boil milk). Set time to 15 minutes in normal pressure mode and leave it. It automatically ON and starts boiling process.( No need to watch it ,it will automatically boil and indicates after 15 minutes).
Step 2:
After 15 minutes,wait for 10 minutes to release the pressure. The release valve in sealing mode move to venting mode and check all pressure is released before opening lid.
Once pressure released, open the lid and you can see well frothy boiled milk. Remove the inner pot and keep out to cool it. ( don’t cover the inner pot during cooling process)( Even after the sauté option stopped the rod inside instant pot will be very hot , if the inner pot is still inside during cooling process,it will burn the lower layer of the milk . ( I learned this lesson , once I left it inside and the milk underneath got burned and only noticed after setting the curd and milk turned brown because of the burned milk underneath).
Step 3:
After 20-25 minutes, check your milk temperature either using thermometer or ur finger. I prefer finger which is best thermometer than other. Just touch the milk, it shouldn’t be very hot which make you remove your finger immediately or so cold that you can keep your finger for long (😜). It should be warm enough that you can feel the warm in your finger(say slightly hot) , also you can see milk skin/malai formed on milk which helps in setting curd.( Don’t remove it).
Step 4:
Place back inner pot inside the instant pot.Once the milk is in right temperature, add 3-4 tbsp curd/yogurt culture( just curd from your grocery store or from your neighbor).mix well with milk and cover the lid. Turn release valve back to sealing mode, and press YOGURT option on instant pot menu and set timer to 6 hours and 30 minutes. It will automatically starts counting down the time.
Step 4:
After 6 hr 30 minutes, it automatically indicate “YOGT” on display. ( It is not necessary that we have to switch off immediately after seeing the yogurt option, I mean if the yogurt process going on in day time or night time,once done. You can open it when you woke up or when you see it). We don’t have to be near to instant pot during whole curd setting final process). As usual wait till pressure released, then open the lid and transfer the beautifully set curd/ yogurt to any tight storage container. The curd will be thick based on the milk you choose and temperature the milk was when we add curd culture.
Tips:
* choose whole milk for thick curd/yogurt.
* Make sure the inner pot and gasket is cleaned well.
* Make sure the release valve is sealing mode when the instant pot is in use. It is like Indian whistle for pressure cooker.
* Make sure the milk is boiled and froth formed to get the milk skin / malai/ ஏடு which help to set curd.
* Mix the curd/ yogurt culture only to finger dipping temperature milk( if the milk is so hot, the bacteria in culture will be killed and curd won’t set, if it is too cold, curd won’t be set).
I am one of the person who can cook for long but can’t stand and set curd in traditional way from my childhood. So I make curd in instant pot,when I am cooking or cleaning kitchen. Mostly I set it in night. In between my cooking work, I do all process and when I wake up , my curd will be ready. Do give a try and stop spending money in buying curd from shop.
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