Wanted to post something different than traditional Indian Sweets for this Diwali day.
Just made this on Friday, came out perfect !! Stayed very creamy and soft even after putting the left over in the freezer overnight.
Easy and simple to make and very delicious !!
As I mentioned earlier on this blog earlier that crazy it may sound but my sons or my husband could never convince me to try any of the frozen treats at any of the local frozen yogurt shops, but when we went to California last year, my friend Aarti convinced me to try the "Tart" yogurt from "Pink berry" so reluctantly I did with fresh mangoes on top...and I was hooked !! to Plain tart yogurt with seasonal fruits and roasted almonds toppings.
Since then I have been trying to replicate the Tart flavor yogurt and this one came out pretty close and even better. All fresh and natural ingredients with no additives and preservatives :)
You can go crazy with the topping or can have it plain, or try with just one or two fruits like I did, my favorite toppings are mangoes and pomegranate. Lychees, Blackberries and Raspberries are not bad either, but they tend to get little frozen when smeared the yogurt.
Mangoes are almost at end of its season, but thanks to Costco we found some Brazilian Mangoes there and they were pretty good for being at the tail end of its season.
This recipe yields 6 servings.
So here is how I made it this time.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups plain home made yogurt from 2% milk but can use fat free milk. (Recipe for home made yogurt is on this blog)
- You will need a cheese cloth to drain all the water out of yogurt
- 1 cup of sugar (You can use Splenda, but when it comes to homemade dessert, I am not crazy about using artificial sweeteners and I mostly stick to sugar, but if someone is diabetic they can use Splenda, it should work well.
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- Desired fruit topping, I used two ripe mangoes and seeds from 1 red pomegranate.
- You will need an electric ice cream or frozen yogurt maker, make sure the ice cream maker container has been in the freezer for at least 24 hours before use. I have Cuisinart brand of frozen yogurt maker and works really well.
- This time I tied the cheese cloth on top of Tupperware strainer container as shown in the pictures (early morning before heading to work on Friday).
- I placed the yogurt on this cheese cloth with empty bowl on the bottom of stainer so did not have to worry about hanging this anywhere.
- Went to work on Friday and came back after 9 hours, all the water was drained from the yogurt, but you could do this for 4-5 hours. I wanted to leave the yogurt at room temp so it becomes a little tart.
- Added this yogurt to the frozen container from ice cream maker with sugar and vanilla and turned the ice cream maker on while I was cooking, it was done in 35 min.
- Served it with small cubes or ripe mango and pomegranate seeds.
- It was delicious and better than store bought, and much much cheaper too :)
- Tart plain yogurt is preferred choice for this recipe. You can make the yogurt ahead of time and let it sit in the fridge for one week before using it for this recipe.
- If not making the yogurt at home you may use the store bought plain Greek yogurt.
- Try to avoid plain store bought yogurt as it has some jelly like substance that makes the yogurt very creamy and water does not drain well on cheese cloth.
- You can make any flavor of yogurt by adding that ingredient to it, but the The Tart flavor is the Best in my opinion.
- If yogurt is not tart, you may add fresh lime juice. That should work well too.
- Again this recipe yields 6 servings.
I must say, got carried away with the pics as I always do :)
Enjoy the pics and hopefully they will inspire you to create this mouthwatering treat at home !!
Recipe and Photographs by yours truly Surekha :)