Many Middle Eastern dishes call for yogurt as a cooking liquid or sauce which needs to be cooked—boiled or simmered—rather than just heated. Salted goat’s milk yogurt, which was used in similar recipes in olden times, can be cooked without curdling, which explains why medieval recipes do not give any indication of ways of preventing yogurt from curdling. Cooking, however, causes yogurt made with cow’s milk to curdle, and stabilizers such as cornstarch or egg white are required to prevent this.
Ingredients
1 quart plain whole-milk yogurt
1 egg white, lightly beaten, or 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with a little cold water or milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
Preparation
Step 1
Beat the yogurt in a large saucepan until it is liquid. Add the egg white, or the cornstarch mixed to a light paste with water or milk, and a little salt, and beat well.
Step 2
Bring to the boil slowly, stirring constantly in one direction only with a wooden spoon, then reduce the heat to as low as possible and let the yogurt barely simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes, or until it has acquired a thick, rich consistency. Do not cover the pan with a lid, since a drop of steam falling back into the yogurt could ruin it.
Step 3
The yogurt can now be cooked with other ingredients such as meat or vegetables with no danger of curdling.
Step 4
The same process can be carried out successfully after the yogurt has been mixed with other ingredients.
Reprinted with permission from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food, copyright © 2000 by Claudia Roden, published by Knopf. Buy the full book on Amazon or Bookshop.
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