Thursday, January 06, 2011

Creamy Peanut Milk Curds/Yogurt


A quicky post just to explain the process of extracting milk out of peanuts and turning it into yogurt. Peanut milk by itself does NOT taste good. I put it in my tea this one time and ended up having to pour it down the drain! Highly painful for someone like me who does not like to waste food. But OMG how it changes in yogurt form!! Simply delicious!

I've been using this in more and more recipes lately so figured I'd share how it's made. It's my favorite kind of yogurt to date!

Vegan Peanut Curds

Creamy Peanut Milk Yogurt


Soak half a cup of plain, raw peanuts overnight. Grind them into a fine paste with some fresh water (the soaking water should be thrown out).

Transfer to a large pot, add lots of water (about 2 1/2 litres), bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and continue to simmer for about 30-40 minutes (stir once in a while). Once it has cooled down to room temperature, strain through a fine sieve. The peanut milk is ready! (The peanut grounds left in the sieve can be used in soups and curries or kneaded into chapathi or bread dough).

Heat the milk to a lukewarm temperature, add a wee bit (just 1-2 tsp will do) of soy yogurt and stir it in lightly with your fingers to introduce the cultures.

Cover and keep aside in a warm spot (a turned off oven or microwave is a great place!) and in about 6-8 hours, you'll have thick, creamy peanut yogurt. :)

It can be stored in the fridge for at least one week (maybe more but it's never lasted that long at our home because we finish it up really quickly! LOL). As the days go by, it gets even thicker and creamier.

Vegan Peanut Curds

A note about Starters:

While making vegan yogurt, if you don't have soy yogurt on hand to use as a starter, then take half a cup of soy milk, heat it to lukewarm, squeeze in a little bit of fresh lime/lemon juice, stir and keep aside. This will turn into yogurt after 6-8 hours but the texture isn't perfect. That's why you make this yogurt in a small quantity and then use that as a starter to make more vegan yogurt. Always make sure to save a few spoonfuls of yogurt in every batch to use as a starter for the next batch. I've noticed that when an old line of starter is used like this for 'generations', the texture and taste of the yogurt gets more delicious over time.

Alternately, you can also use rejeuvelac made out of soaked wheat berries.

I have also tried using chilli crowns as a starter as described on Tongue Ticklers and that worked well too.

Update on 23rd April 2013: New blog post showing the step by step process of making peanut curds using Howdo.

31 comments:

  1. Thanks for the interesting recipe.
    Where do you get soy yogurt, though? (I'm in Bangalore, and from your post on Carnival Cakes I'm guessing you are too..)

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  2. Soy yogurt isn't yet available commercially in Bangalore. I make mine at home with homemade soymilk.

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  3. Thanks for your response, Veganosaurus. What do you use as a starter to set your yogurt?

    Also, do you have one of those machines to make soy milk?

    I'd like to try making yogurt at home (even if not soy milk!) if I know what to use as a starter and where to buy it..

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  4. Basically a spoonful of soy or peanut yogurt is what we use to curdle the fresh soy or peanut milk with. In the rare case that I run out of starter, I just squeeze a little bit of lime juice into about half a cup of lukewarm soymilk and keep it aside to curdle. This turns to yogurt (not very thick though) in about 8-10 hours. Then I use that as a starter and continue.

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  5. Thank you Thank you for this! I followed your recipe almost exactly to the T (used a peanut curd starter instead of soy yoghurt starter) and got absolutely delicious peanut curd at the end.

    I hallelujah-ed while eating the curd - its been nearly 5 months :-)

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    1. Where did you get (or how did you make) the peanut curd starter? -SV

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    2. SV, at the end of the post you can see links to the different kinds of starters you can use to curdle peanut mylk. Also, if you read the comments above, I've explained how to make the starter with lime juice.

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    3. Thanks, Veganosaurus, read _all_ of the comments. (Wanted to know how to make it without the soy milk/lemon juice starter.) We discussed this on fb later, you explained how to make it with the green chillies/tops. Looking for that information--and making teh yogurt today! SV

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  6. Awesome! :) I know how you must've felt because I looove curds too!

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  7. Hi Veganosaurus!!!
    I live in Bangalore, am looking for Peanut/Cashewnut/Almond Milk, is any or either of them available at all?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Dippak, none of those are commercially available yet but I think they might be available soon. I'll post an update on my blog as soon as I know.

      Also, have you considered making them yourself? Cashew mylk especially is very easy to make. All you need is a blender for it.

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  8. Hi, This sounds yummy. I have a soy allergy but I have been making coconut milk yogurt at home. Do you think I can use coconut milk yogurt instead of soy yogurt?

    -Kate

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  9. Kate, as a starter, coconut yogurt will work just as well as soy yogurt. The required cultures are present in all yogurts. :)

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  10. Thank you for the quick reply. Can't wait to try it!
    -Kate

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  11. Didn't know we can make curds from peanuts!! Definitely gotta try it out.

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  12. I tried this one. The consistency was too thin. Not sure what I did wrong. I used soy yoghurt but it was flavored though. I wonder if that's what messed it up.

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    1. Did you use the flavoured soy yoghurt as the starter? That shouldn't have been an issue, Mrinalini. First batches are usually tricky. As long as it's fermented well, use this as a starter for the next time. Maybe you can play around with the peanut mylk texture, reduce the water next time and try? Also, this batch might thicken after sitting in the fridge for a day or two.

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  13. Ok. What I do have tastes just like youghurt. So I am planning to make kadhi! Will keep trying and experimenting. Your blog is like a treasure! So much to choose from!

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  14. Wow.. i am just exploring on how to be a vegan... my main concern was my yummy curd.. am definitely going to try this..
    and will now read your other articles too.. thanks for sharing..

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  15. Would this work with almond milk as well?

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    Replies
    1. You could try Darshini, but the curds will have a different texture and taste.

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  16. Would lemon juice work as a curdling agent for peanut milk curd?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Prabha, yes it works. But I suggest first curdling and fermenting a small quantity of the peanut mylk and then using that as a starter for the bigger batch.

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  17. Thanks for the recipe, will try and taste soon! btw, which soya milk brand is best ? we use staeta..

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    Replies
    1. Bhargavi, to make curds I don't recommend packaged soy milk. For drinking, Staeta is fine I guess. Though it's bee a long time since I purchased packaged soy milk.

      For making curds, soymilk powder from Bionutrients is good. You can google them and place an order or find out which stores they're available at close to you.

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  18. Susmita, I have made and been succesful with soy and peanut curds with your recipes,,,just an option i would like to share. Setting this curd in clay pot will make it leave the extra water and thicken it even better and smells awesome...just a tip to share :) cheers

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    1. Glad to hear that you've been successfully making the curds, Bhargavi! :)

      Thanks for the tip about using a clay pot.

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  19. can we simply use a nutmilk bag and squeeze out the residue first before boiling it?? it seems much easier

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    1. That would be wasteful. And the Mylk will be very thin, leading to a substandard curd.

      Boiling the pulp with the liquid incorporates a lot more of the peanut content into the mylk. Especially the fats and proteins. This results in a thick, creamy curd.

      Also, it’s actually easier to squeeze the mylk out from the pulp using a cloth bag after it’s been boiled. :)

      The easiest of course would be to not strain at all. I often do that. If the peanuts have been ground well, the residue in the curds aren’t bothersome. They get quite soft after the fermentation.

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  20. Should the peanuts be soaked along with the skin.
    Roughly how much yoghurt does one get from half cup of peanuts.
    Thank you.

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  21. Is it okay if i don't boil the milk?

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