Prepare Yogurt, Butter and Buttermilk

Preparing yogurt at home is not that difficult. All you need is milk and active culture. Milk has to have a little bit of fat in it (at least 1%) or yogurt will be sticky. More the fat in the milk, better tasting
yogurt you will have.

Heat up milk in a pan on the stove or in a microwave at lower power. By heating milk, fat will make milk rise to the top. Remove the pan from the heat. Depending on fat contents of the milk, there will be a thin or thick layer of cream on top of the milk. Transfer it to a container/ bowl you want to make yogurt in.  Let the milk cool off to luke warm state.

Buy yogurt from the store that has active culture. While milk is cooling down, take 2 tsp yogurt in a small bowl and add 2 tsp warm water to it. Mix well and keep. When milk gets luke warm, add this culture to it. Stir well and cover partially or with a thin cloth. Keep the pan in a warmer place. If you make this at night, check in the morning if the yogurt has set. Store it in the refrigerator. If the yogurt is not set,  then keep checking until the yogurt has set. In winter time, yogurt can take upto a day to set.

Remember not to cover yogurt competely until it is set. If you covered it with a lid completely, yogurt will have a funny smell to it and it might get sticky. Home made yogurt will always have more watery stuff. Don't discard it. This is whey. Whey protein derived from this whey is often sold as nutritional supplement.

My mom makes buttermilk from the yogurt that is made from the full fat milk. She uses wooden
churner to churn yogurt. This process can easily take 10-15 minutes and cream floats to the top. This
is home made butter. It has a hint of sourness of yogurt and tastes heavenly. She takes out this butter and stores it in the refrigerator. After 4-5 days she cooks this butter to make clarified butter or brown butter or ghee. After the butter is removed, remaining liquid is called as buttermilk. You can use this buttermilk as a drink or in cooking.

Home made butter does not have any hormones, preservatives or additives. Ghee made from this butter is used in many Ayurvedic medicines (Indian Medicine). When the yogurt is churned to make butter, whey remains in the buttermilk and that is why drinking fresh buttermilk is good for your
health. This buttermilk also tastes really good and refreshing, especially in summer months.

Dal - split legume or split beans

dal - split legume, split beans

Buy most of the spices and dals in Indian stores. I store my spices in glass jars in the freezer. It is best to use legumes and dals within 4-6 months but when I purchase them in bulk and need to store them outside the refrigerator, I add 1 tsp of boric acid to them and store them in a tight lid container. Always wash these dal (rubbing with your fingers) at least 3 times to wash off the boric powder.

Dals and beans have high protein so it takes longer time to cook them. I use pressure cooker to cook them. I use pans that are made for pressure cooker. You can use any stainless steel pan that will fit inside a cooker. If you take 1/2 cups of dal or soaked/roasted beans, add 1.5 cups of water. I also add 1/2 tsp turmeric powder (makes dal/beans more permissible to water, spices, salt etc and speeds cooking process) and 1/8 tsp asafoetida (anti-gas). Don't add asafoetida if you will be using garlic in the recipe.

Pressure cooker saves time and energy and cooks dals/beans well without fail.