Make Vegan Curd Starter with Cooked Rice or Poha!

Hey folks, here’s yet another variety of vegan curd starter that is super-easy to make 🙂 !! It’s also neutral in flavor—a big advantage! The idea for this post came from a comment on a Facebook thread on plant-based curds by my friend Poonam Dhup Juneja ji (yeah, the Vegans in India group on FB is my favorite place for learning new tips and tricks related to vegan foods!!) She wondered if we could just soak moong dal in water for a few hours and use that water as a curd starter, would it work if we tried the same soaking method with cooked rice? I tried, and yes, it does work 🙂 Yayy!! You can also use poha instead of cooked rice.

The image featured is of peanut-cashew curd set with this starter.

Time taken: 10-12 hours

Yields ½ cup starter liquid

Ingredients:

• 1 level tablespoon cooked rice or poha, any kind
• A pinch of sugar/jaggery, optional
• ½ cup water

Method:

1. Mix the cooked rice/poha, sugar/jaggery (if using), and water in a bowl. Cover and keep aside for 10-12 hours.
2. The water used for soaking will have small bubbles floating on the surface. This means your curd starter is ready! Filter out the rice/poha and reserve the bacteria-rich water.
3. One tablespoon of this liquid can be used to set approx. 500 ml of any vegan curd.

Click on the given links for a few other types of vegan starter and different varieties of plant-based curd to try!