This is my favourite variety of curd 🙂 I also love simple peanut curd which tastes great in kadhi and other dishes like dahi-aloo but is not suitable for use in sweet dishes. Soy curd or soy-cashew curd are good for sweet dishes but I personally don’t like eating soy too often.
This peanut-rice curd is the one I totally love! It’s super versatile as it’s more neutral in flavor. I use this to make raita, chaach, meethi lassi, and even aamrakhand in addition to kadhi. This is also good for use in baking recipes. Use this starter liquid if you want your curd to be a bit sour. Otherwise, feel free to use any vegan curd as the starter.
One thing to keep in mind is that you have to prepare the peanut milk this way. The special soaking technique helps to eliminate most of the nasty peanutty smell.
Do try and share how it turns out 🙂 If you like this recipe, please post a picture of your own attempt on FB and tag the blog!
Preparation time: 15 minutes + setting time
Yields approx. 750 ml curd
Ingredients
- 4 cups peanut milk (freshly made)
- 1/3 cup rice, soaked overnight (7-8 hours) & drained
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
- 2 tablespoon curd starter liquid/starter curd
Method:
- Grind the soaked rice with 2-3 tablespoons of water in a small mixer jar on the highest setting for a couple of minutes. Add the rest of the water and blend again. Filter through a wet porous cloth to get 2 cups of raw rice milk. Mix with the peanut milk.
- In a deep bottomed kadhai/saucepan, bring the peanut-rice milk to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add sugar, if using. Lower the heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
- Let it cool down for some time. Once it is just slightly warm—you should be able to dip a finger comfortably—mix in the starter curd and stir well.
- Keep aside to set for as long as you would for dairy curd according to the climatic conditions in your region. Setting time would vary from 5-7 hours in summer to 10-12 hours in winter.
Oh.. Nice to know we can use any vegan curd as a curd starter for the next batch… Just to confirm, if I used peanut curd as a starter for making coconut curd – will the curd get flavor of peanut??
Also, I have made peanut curd for the first time and it has a strong smell and taste! Any tip to get rid of the same? Or to make it neutral?!
Hi Dhara! Since we use just a little amount of the starter curd, it shouldn’t affect the flavor of the curd being set. As for the peanut curd, did you try making the peanut milk using the method suggested in my blog? The “boiling with lemon juice before soaking” part helps to neutralize the peanutty flavor to a great extent. You can make peanut-rice or peanut-cashew curd (search the blog for these options) in case you find the flavor of the plain peanut curd too strong. Use the peanut curd to make kadhi or any such dish where the peanutty… Read more »
Well I actually came across your website while searching for options to utilize the curd which I had already made without any proper research 🤦🏻♀️
I will definitely try the boiling method you suggested! Will also try the rice and cashew mix too! Thank you very much for your help🙂
You’re welcome… It’s ok! Learning to make the perfect curd is a journey. You should have seen my initial attempts ha ha 😀
Ya, do try different recipes on the blog and share your results 🙂
Hi.. thanks for the lovely post. Going to try out.. I wish to know what type of sugar you are using.
Hi Zeenath, you can use any type of sugar: white, brown, jaggery, khand, or bura.
Do try and share your result 🙂
Thank you for your reply. I tried out with dalia as srarter.. came out well. Thank you once again
Hi, my curd is not thick, it’s watery, any suggestions. I used 12 hours soaked dalia as a starter.
Zeenath, did the starter water have bubbles on the surface? It’s important for the water to be a little bubbly; that indicates the growth of the good bacteria. Also, the thickness and temperature of the milk when you add the starter and the time you keep it aside also impact the fermentation process. Was the milk slightly warm? How long did you keep it aside for fermenting?
Can we use green chillies as starter for this curd? i tried using both red and green chillies as starters but the curd was not set even after 10 hours. could it cause a problem if we add the starter when the milk is bit hotter than lukewarm
Hi Karthika! Yes, you can use broken green chillies as starter for this curd. I do it all the time. Yes, hotter milk could be a problem in summer, but it still works well in winter. In hot weather, the milk should be just lukewarm.
How many days can this curd stored in the refrigerator? I wont be able to make it everyday, but would like to have it everyday.
You can store this for up to 3-4 days in an airtight container in the coldest region of your fridge.