Sweet closure (mishti, the sweet that ends the meal and is offered)
Mishti Doi, Caramelized Yogurt of Bengal
OfferingDocumented🍯 🫙moyen8 h (including resting)
A thick yogurt made from reduced milk and caramelized sugar (jaggery in winter), set in a clay pot. Sweet, slightly tangy from fermentation, melt-in-the-mouth.
Sweet closure (mishti, the sweet that ends the meal and is offered)
A thick yogurt made from reduced milk and caramelized sugar (jaggery in winter), set in a clay pot. Sweet, slightly tangy from fermentation, melt-in-the-mouth.
At home, one does not leave with a bitter mouth. Before a journey, before an exam, my grandmother would put a spoonful of sweet doi in your mouth — eat and go, she would say, and the journey will go well. It is a yogurt, yes, but you let it set in a porous clay pot that drinks the water and thickens it, with that palm sugar that browns it like caramel. Let it rest a whole night in a warm corner of the house. Patience, again: one does not rush fermentation, any more than an idea.
Ingredients
- •Reduced whole milk — a large pot (thick base)
- •Palm sugar (nolen gur) or caramelized sugar — generous (sweetness and color)
- •Starter (a little yogurt from the previous day) — a spoonful (fermentation)
How it was made : Mishti doi is an ancient Bengali specialty, tied to the region's sweet culture and the palm sugar (nolen gur) harvested in winter. The porous clay pot, essential, absorbs moisture and gives the yogurt its dense texture.
Sources : Chitrita Banerji, "Life and Food in Bengal", 1991 · K. T. Achaya, "A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food", Oxford University Press, 1998