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How To Make Homemade Yogurt / Curd, Steps to Make Dahi at Home

December 18, 2014 by Gopi Patel 17 Comments

How To Make dhai

Homemade Curd/Dhai/Yogurt: Intention behind writing this post about home made yogurt  is my own personal experience as I struggled to make good curd. So I thought to share this experience that might help other ladies who are struggling in making good home made curd or dahi at home. I will try to make this a step by step method of making yogurt with pictures. Making home made yogurt is a daily chore for Indian ladies. Many of you might already have become masters in art of making homemade yogurt. But this recipe is for those who are trying for very first time or have tried but failed in getting good quality yogurt at home.

Dahi or yogurt is such a versatile ingredient. In Indian cuisine it is used in so many different varieties of dishes. Dahi raita such as boondi raita, cucumber raita, onion tomato raita etc are primarily the main dish that you will get in any part of India. Also yogurt is used in making lassi and butter milk (chaas). Both great natural cooler drink which control body temperature in summers. Dahi is also used in many Indian curry recipes such as dahi wale aloo, dahi bhindi, gatte ki sabji etc.

To make good quality homemade yogurt / dahi we need to know few basics about curd formation process and few tricks that would help us in getting perfect result every time. In this post I have written all the possibilities of making a good curd/dahi.

How To Make Homemade Curd  recipe How To Make thick curd

First let us check the common mistakes that one can do while making yogurt at home.

How to find mistake in your curd when it is not formed properly

  1. If you have added less curd to the milk then:
    • The taste of the curd will not taste good or
    • Will not ferment soon or
    • Will not ferment at all and become sticky
  2. If you add more curd then required then
    • The curd will become sour or
    • Sometime it would form bubble on top and smells sour or
    • It would not be edible at all.

In case your curd get sour than also no worries. You can make so many different dishes using sour yogurt.

Where can you use sour curd

  • You can make khatta dhokla
  • You can make handvo too.
  • You can make kadhi.
  • Gatta sabzi
  • Sev sabzi

How To Make Homemade yogurt

Here are few handy tips to make perfect curd everytime.

Tips to make good curd

  1. Always warm the milk and then add starter / curd to it .
  2. If you live in cold place then add more starter / curd.
  3. If you live in hot place then add less starter or else your yogurt will become sour (e.g. In 2 cup milk add 1 tsp of curd).
  4. Always use full fat milk to get nice thick curd.
  5. Keep the milk to ferment in warn place.
  6. Use starter from the previous batch of yogurt to ferment the next day. In case you don’t have starter then buy yogurt in small quantity from grocery store or get it from your neighbor 😀
  7. The longer you keep the curd to ferment the sour it gets.
  8. You can use microwave to heat milk to lukewarm temperature and use the same vessel to ferment yogurt.
  9. After the curd is fermented keep it in the refrigerator or else start turning sour.

How to avoid forming water in curd after breaking

A lot of time when you cut the yogurt and use a slice of it. If you keep rest yogurt as it is then water will start oozing out and form in the yogurt. To avoid that follow these simple steps.

As shown in the below picture I am breaking the curd.

how to avoid forming water in curd break the curd

As you can see that in both the mug curd is broken.

how to avoid forming water in curd break both the curd

In one of the mug I have leveled the curd and in other just kept as it is. Now lets see the change after 5 hrs.

how to avoid forming water in curd  one is leveled and other is notAs you can see in the leveled curd it is just the same but in the broken curd the water is formed. (Note: Always level the curd after breaking the curd do not leave as it is or else it will form water)

how to avoid forming water in curd  result the next day

Steps to make good homemade yogurt / curd / dahi

Warm  the milk before adding adding the curd. Note: do not make milk too hot. Just let it become lukewarm. That temperature is enough to start the fermentation process.

how to make curd step by step recipe making milk warm

Once the milk is hot add curd or starter to it.

how to make curd step by step recipe  adding curd

Now mix well curd and milk as shown in the picture below.

how to make curd step by step recipe  mixing

Pour it in the container  you want to make curd.

how to make curd step by step recipe pouring in cointernerBoth the container is filled.

how to make curd step by step recipe  filled

Now cover the container with a lid and keep it in a warm place for about 7-8 hrs. If you live in hot place than you might want to check on it in between.

how to make curd step by step recipe  cover it with lid

That’s it. It’s that simple to make a good quality home made yogurt.

4.3 from 4 reviews
Homemade Yogurt Recipe, Easy yogurt recipe at home
 
Print
Prep time
6 mins
Cook time
5 mins
Total time
11 mins
 
Homemade yogurt recipe - Easy steps and handy tips to make perfect yogurt / curd / dahi at home.
Author: Gopi Patel
Recipe type: Side dish
Cuisine: Indian
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • Milk: 500 ml
  • Curd: 3 tbsp
Instructions
  1. In a vessel heat the milk till it is warm.
  2. Then add starter or curd to it and mix well with the help of hand blender or using two glass mix well.
  3. Pour milk and starter into a bowl to ferment curd.
  4. Cover the bowl with lid and keep it in a warm place for about 6-7 hrs.
  5. Thick and nice home made curd is ready to serve.
Notes
As I live in a cold place, I have added around 3 tbsp of starter for 1/2 liter of milk. You can adjust the quantity of starter according to your surroundings. Normally 1 tbsp curd for 1/2 liter milk is sufficient in area with 30 deg Celsius temperature.
3.2.2885

How To Make Homemade Curd

Categories: Cooking Basics, Dahi Raita Recipes Ingredients: Milk (Dudh), Yogurt (Dahi)

Comments

  1. The Steaming Pot says

    February 23, 2015 at 1:12 am

    Those brown containers are beautiful!

    Reply
  2. Hira says

    July 20, 2015 at 3:45 am

    Hi Gopi!

    The texture of your yogurt looks amazing! May I ask how you made your starting culture? No matter what I do, mine always comes out lumpy

    Reply
    • Gopi Patel says

      July 21, 2015 at 12:40 pm

      Hello Hira I’ve made this yogurt by using previous day yogurt as a starting culture.You can also use local dairy yogurt as starting culture.

      Reply
  3. D T Naik says

    July 25, 2015 at 5:26 pm

    Thanks for your recipe.

    Regards

    D T NAIK

    Reply
  4. Snehamayee says

    August 19, 2015 at 3:13 pm

    What Milk you use for setting curds – Amul whole fat pouch – does that work?

    Reply
    • Gopi Patel says

      August 20, 2015 at 1:59 pm

      Hi sneha Ya i have used amul gold milk.

      Reply
  5. Hariprasanth says

    August 23, 2015 at 7:38 pm

    How to avoid water forming on top of the curd even before start using it?

    Reply
    • Gopi Patel says

      August 24, 2015 at 11:17 am

      Hello Hariprasanth to avoid water forming in your curd before start using try to make your curd in kulhar(clay pot).

      Reply
  6. Dorin Finn says

    November 2, 2015 at 12:00 am

    What if I don’t have a clay pot to put the yogurt in? Can I use glass containers?

    Reply
    • Gopi Patel says

      November 2, 2015 at 9:51 am

      Hi Dorin, You can make curd in any available pot. Glass container is just great. It’s just that clay pot will absorb the excess water.

      Reply
      • Dorin Finn says

        November 2, 2015 at 11:36 am

        Where can I get clay pots? Online? Do you have a link to share?

  7. vijay says

    February 24, 2016 at 4:01 pm

    Hii how found the starting? , how to make curd with out any start?,

    Reply
    • Gopi Patel says

      March 5, 2016 at 8:33 pm

      Hi Vijay, Unfortunately you cannot make curd without stater. Try buying a little from your local dairy.

      Reply
  8. Aswathy says

    May 20, 2016 at 11:51 am

    Where can I get clay pot?

    Reply
  9. mrs saima nasir awan says

    October 21, 2016 at 10:17 am

    very easy and good way of telling us thanks for sharing my daughter doesnt take milk she loves to eat dahi its safe and healthy to make dahi at home thanks once again 🙂

    Reply
  10. Anjali says

    February 1, 2018 at 4:27 pm

    Hey, thanks for this detail information I like the way you explain it, but what is the difference between yogurt and curd or both are the same.

    Reply
  11. Bridget says

    June 4, 2020 at 6:51 am

    I bought a yoghurt maker and tried now several times but it doesn’t get thick and creamy.
    It has always a lot of water on top and is very lumpy or thin and tastes very sour.
    I used good full milk and I tried with heating the milk up to 185 degrees Fahrenheit, then cooled it down to 110 before I added the starter yoghurt. I tried 8 hours 9. 10 and 12.
    I also tried with cold milk like they say and with just warm milk, but nothing really works.
    But it will not get how I like it.
    Please help, what am I doing wrong.

    Reply

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