Kolkata r Lal Mishti Doi / Calcutta style Sweet Yogurt

The sweet dish that I am going to share today is the signature Bengali Yogurt called “misti doi”. Probably it’s the second well-known and popular in rest of the India, next to Rasogolla.  The word “misti doi” immediately reminds all of a clay pot filled with brownish sweet yogurt. Bengali wedding lunch is not complete without serving misti doi at the end. There are several sweet shops in Calcutta like Ganguram, where the quality of misti doi is simply awesome and you shouldn’t miss an opportunity to visit these shops, if you are travelling to the city of joy.

Since it is readily available in almost every local sweet shops, it’s rarely made at any Bengali’s kitchen. But the cravings for Misti Doi haunts me so much that I started searching recipes from net and tried making Misti Doi at home. The result was so good that I won’t miss Kolkata’s Misti Doi again. The process was not complex either, even a beginner should give a try. Though only 2 or 3 staple ingredients are required, you really need patience to make this scrumptious sweet because it’s a long process.

The process of preparing Mishti Doi starts with heating milk on the stove. As the milk gets thickened, sugar is added to give the dish its characteristic sweetness. Next, yogurt or curds must be added to the sweetened milk and mixed thoroughly. This mixture is placed in a traditional clay or earthen pot. The clay pot absorbs excess moisture, giving the mishti doi its dense texture.

Recipe of Authentic Kolkata style Mishti Doi : Serves : 6 

Ingredients :

Whole Milk : 1 and half liters 

Sugar : 250 g ( one and half cups ) or as per taste 

Plain Yogurt : half of a cup 

Sugar : 4 tablespoons ( for caramelizing ) 

Method :

1. Take a heavy bottomed big pan, add the milk and heat it up. Stir and simmer the milk until it gets thickened and it becomes less than half of its original volume. Add sugar and stir it. The texture of the milk will be kind of malai - rabri. Once it is done set it aside. 

2. In a separate pan add sugar. Caramelize the sugar by heating it up. Keep stirring and make sure it does not stick at the bottom or burn. 

3. Add the caramelized sugar to the reduced milk. 

4. Once the milk is not too hot, it is just warm, add the whisked yogurt to the milk. Mix it well.

5. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F or 100 degrees C. 

6. Pour the mixture into a oven proof dish or earthen pots, cover it with aluminium foil and bake it until the top of the yogurt is set. It takes one and half hours to two hours to set. 

7. Switch off the oven and let the yogurt rest in the oven for couple of hours. 

8. Once it is cool down completely, put it into the refrigerate for another 4 to 5 hours or overnight. Serve cold. 

In Calcutta, they don't use oven to set the Mishti Doi. The thickened milk is let to ferment overnight in a warm place, once it has set put it into refrigerator to chill. 

" The recipe is adopted from Pinkii Sarkar' s Kolkata style Mishti Doi "