Mango Yogurt – Aam Doi (no oven method)

Thick, creamy, sweet mango yogurt or ‘aam doi’ or ‘aam dahi’, which does not require any baking or oven is a summer perfect dessert that can be prepared ahead. 

Yogurt, mangoes are summer are interrelated in my life.

I had an argument with my friends at grad school about yogurt’s origin. As they were European, they claimed it’s started from Greece when I claimed Ancient India. I did not continue my research but making them at home is a common Indian activity. I am not sure about other Indians, but at our home we rarely bought yogurt during summer months. Ma prepares a huge batch of ‘doi’ or ‘dahi’ every single day in the morning and we consume that the next day. Summer months are unbearable hot in India, so people consume yogurt in large quantity in order to beat the heat.

When I told my husband about yogurt making at home, he wondered if I am going to order the yogurt kit from Williams Sonoma. Surprising him, I said no. We make yogurts with culture, we don’t need a kit. So I started making yogurt here, but very soon I realized that I have two major problems.

1. The culture is unknown to me.
2. Temperature of the home is few degrees less (In winter Boston about more than 70-80 F less than Kolkata’s summer).

But we spend an average of $8 a week on yogurt as my husband consumes yogurt at breakfast and as a dessert. So I thought of making yogurt on daily basis, laziness and lack of time overruled. That being said, I made yogurt quite a few times and mostly a sweet yogurt.  A couple of months someone at Facebook asked me about flavored yogurt. When I like my yogurt simple, I am a mango yogurt lover since my childhood. I love it more than Kolkata’s most famous Mishti Doi. So I asked mom about the recipe last week and she explained the procedure over Skype. When it came out perfectly, ma said “Now I  can shut my eyes peacefully.”

On Saturday, I started preparing the mango yogurt around noon. I told her repeatedly to go to sleep as it was quite late for her in Kolkata but she did not listen to me. She kept yelling, instructing over skype until it became perfect. When I put the yogurt to settle, she went to sleep. Thickening of the milk is crucial in sweet yogurt recipe and mom made sure I have done it perfectly.

It’s quite hot in Kolkata so ma keeps the yogurt to be kept in a warm place. We run central air conditioning in our home so it’s quite chilly for it to settle. So I use my closed oven to settle the yogurt here. Again, if your room temperature is 90F or higher you don’t require an oven. But if you don’t keep the oven light on or cover them with a blanket.

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Recipe for Mango Yogurt

You need to 150 grams of sugar per liter of milk. I have used saffron for saturated yellow color, you can entirely skip it.

1 gallon (2 liters) whole milk

1 teaspoon saffron (optional)

300 grams granulated sugar

1 cup plain yogurt (full fat)

4 mangoes, chopped and mashed with hands

Equipment needed:

1. Saucepan (s)
2. Thermometer
3. Container with lid

1. In a thick bottom sauce pan, over high heat, heat the milk and crushed saffron. When it starts to boil, add sugar and reduce it to medium-high heat.  Cook the milk for 1 hour 30 to 50 minutes by stirring often. Your milk will be reduced to half.

{Check the picture below for consistency. You can do other things while thickening the milk but do not leave the kitchen. Often stir it otherwise milk will burn at bottom. You can divide the milk in 2 containers to make the process quick.}

2. Once you’re done thickening, set aside the milk. Cool down the milk with a clean, heatproof mug. This helps the yogurt to settle thick.

3. When the temperature of the milk reaches to 50C or between 105-115F (check notes below), add the yogurt and mashed mangoes. With a spoon stir it well. Transfer it to a container with lid and keep it somewhere warm for 4 to 6 hours. When yogurt is settled, transfer it to refrigerator. Chill it for 8 hours to overnight before serving.

{If you don’t have thermometer, use your clean finger. Dip your finger for few seconds, if you can’t dip it for more than 3-5 seconds, your milk is ready.}

Two other yogurt recipes from us (which does not require any oven)

[ezcol_1half]Mishti Doi – Home made sweet yogurt
[/ezcol_1half][ezcol_1half_end] Homemade yogurt (sweet) and fruits [/ezcol_1half_end]