• Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Raks Kitchen

  • Home
  • Recipe index
    • New recipe index
    • Old recipe index
  • HEALTHY COOKING
    • INDIAN OATS RECIPES
    • MILLET RECIPES
    • SALAD
    • SOUPS
    • SUNDAL RECIPES
  • LUNCH MENUS
    • Indo chinese
    • North Indian menu
    • South Indian menu
    • LUNCH PLANNER
    • Lunch box ideas
  • FESTIVAL RECIPES
    • Tamil New Year recipes
    • PONGAL RECIPES
    • VINAYAGAR CHATURTHI RECIPES
    • DIWALI SNACKS
    • INDIAN DIWALI SWEET RECIPES
    • KARTHIGAI DEEPAM RECIPES
    • Gokulashtami Date, Recipes, Guide
    • Navaratri sundal recipes, Navratri snacks
  • COLLECTIONS
    • Kuzhambu recipes
    • Paneer recipes
    • Baby corn recipes
    • Side dish for chapati
    • Side dish for idli dosa
  • Amazon Store
Home » TIPS » How to make curd at home, Homemade curd recipe

How to make curd at home, Homemade curd recipe

April 11, 2020 by Raks Anand 10 Comments /

indian-style-curd

How to make curd at home, perfect set homemade curd/ thayir every time. Detailed post with tips, tricks, and FAQs.

From the time I started to cook, for almost 16 years, I make my own curd at home. Being South Indian Tamil, we have mor sadam to end our meal. Store bought curd is not affordable and it is very common to make curd everyday at home in our households. Both mom, MIL make fresh curd everyday. Many of us in our family, have the habit of eating curd with breakfast or dinner with idli, dosa or upma too. My grandma, mom, FIL loves butter milk with the idli dosa/ upma. We add little salt to it and use it along eating idli dosa.

how-to-make-curd

Though everyday curd is set in our homes, consumption of curd is kind of luxury. We always use buttermilk (mor) than the curd as such in earlier days. Now a days though consumption of curd has increased, still, for lunch we include only mor. Also elders at home say its healthier to use mor than thayir. Mor/ butter milk is said to be body coolant than thayir.

I have replied in detail to many of my reader friends on making curd. Especially people from US, Singapore often ask me the homemade Indian style curd making process. And once they succeed and mail me back sharing their excitement, I really feel happy and content that I could help. I have always thought to make a post on this, but somehow it doesn’t happen. So finally time has come to share, to help beginners and particularly this can be useful at this period of time. It can save you bucks, save your trips outside. Also no need to worry on the stock.

If you want to learn and perfect the process, please read in detail and patiently.

Some tips I have learnt:
  • UHT milk/ curd from tetra pack milk sets thicker comparatively to fresh milk.
  • Experiment with different brands of both milk and curd (starter) to find which works best for your region, climate conditions (USA, Singapore…) and stick to it.
  • If you have local quality brands that supply around fresh curd, use it as it has more live cultures.
  • I set my curd in day time than night as the hot environment helps to set the curd.
  • In cold days/ rainy days, I keep the container around hot areas like next to stove while cooking, by the side of appliances where the surrounding is warmer – example by the side of refrigerator or over it.
  • If you have oven and need warm environment, put inside the oven and leave the oven light on, which will provide necessary temperature.
  • Don’t have oven and have difficulties for similar environment? I keep inside cooker (the warm cooker – not under fire) as soon as I take out cooked rice from cooker and keep it closed. This fastens the process.
  • Boil milk well, bring to the temperature to warm, instead of just heating the milk upto warm. It makes a whole lot of difference in thick texture.

Here are some FAQs for making curd:

How I make sure curd is set every time perfectly, properly

I add a red chilli or green chilli with stalk intact and mix along the starter curd. This double ensures my curd set perfect each and every time.

My curd is not set and it looks just like milk when I open after many hours. Why?

Your milk was probably too hot. It kills the bacteria that helps the curd to set.

Why my curd looks/ is slimy?

No one likes to consume slimy curd. You might be letting the milk cool down too much. Temperature is too low for setting.

What is the perfect optimum temperature to set curd?

You should be able to touch the milk with bare hand. Roughly 30- 40 deg C will be perfect.

Is there any particular type of vessel to set curd?

Though it is okay to use any type of vessel, I prefer to use vessels with small mouth to help retain heat and doesn’t cool fast like broader vessels. I use a traditional thayir sombu kept alone for this purpose only. Jars with lids like mason jars, Clay pots, soap stones should work great too. My relative sets yogurt in hot pack too.

Can I pour the milk over and over again on top of existing curd, in the same pot?

It sets very perfect and quick when you do so, but avoid doing it as it’s said to be Not good for health.

Which milk and curd I am using in Singapore?

I use Amul blue tetra pack and either use milky mist curd from previous setting as starter.

Let’s make Indian style Homemade curd:

Time needed: 6 hours.

How to make Indian style homemade curd:

  1. Boiling milk

    Start heating 1 litre milk in a milk pan. It should be large enough to hold the overflowing milk.
    boil-milk

  2. Keep stirring

    Keep stirring occasionally in the beginning. As you see steam rising along the spoon you stir, be careful, your milk is about to boil. Be careful at this stage as it may overflow.
    stir-milk

  3. Cool down

    Once it boils – becomes frothy, raises too. Switch off the stove. Cover with a lid. set aside for cooling.
    boiled-milk

  4. Right temperature

    You should be able to touch the milk with bare hands, if it is warm enough to touch, this is the correct temperature.
    warm to touch

  5. Transfer to curd setting vessel

    Transfer to the vessel you are going to set curd in. Preferably which could retain the temperature for a while.
    pour-to-curd-vessel

  6. Mixing starter curd

    Next, mix about 2 tbsp of well beaten curd to the milk and stir well.
    mix-starter-curd

  7. Stir well

    With a spoon, give a good mix making sure it gets mixed well.
    stir-milk

  8. Keep covered for setting

    Leave it in a warm place for setting.
    setting

  9. Set curd

    After about 6 hours, the curd will be completely set. Depending on the surrounding temperature, it starts getting set, thicken as time passes.
    curd-set

  10. Refrigerate

    Once set, keep the set curd in refrigerator. Gets more firmer as you refrigerate. Take only required amount when needed and never leave it outside to prevent turning too sour.
    thick-homemade-curd

How to make butter milk from homemade curd?

Take 1/2 cup curd a tall vessel.Using a balloon whisk, beat smoothly and add 1 & 1/2 cups water and whisk again to make it smooth.

mor-or-buttermilk
Buttermilk – mor

Use chilli with stalk to ensure it is set.

Troubleshooting tips

Troubleshooting

What to do with slimy curd?
Use it in mor kuzhambu or make neer mor with lots of water.

How to avoid slimy curd?

  • Do not use a starter which is slimy. The starter curd is what the home set curd gets it’s taste, texture from. So clean well the vessels, never use the same slimy curd as starter again.
  • It happens in certain environment, it can happen without our control because of something to do with the weather or surroundings- this is my understanding.
    So if no matter what, you can get slimy curd even though you were able to get proper set curd earlier, just skip making curd for some period of time and use store bought and start with fresh starter curd to set homemade curd.

If you check the curd, if it is not starting to set, mix once again and keep over hotter place to set. Use chilli with stalk to ensure it is set.

I love natural flavour of curd and not the overpowering milky smelling curd of some brands. Milky mist works best for starter and I buy Nestle if buying, as it is close to homemade curd.

Why I set 1 liter curd and not just small portions?

I keep forgetting setting curd in everyday basis, so I prefer setting as 1 litre and use it for a week. You can even divide and store in different containers if you want.

I hope I shared everything I know, if I remember anything important for this post, I will sure update. Leave comments if you have any suggestions, tips that work for you, which brand milk works best for you etc. This can help others too.

indian-style-curd

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: RECENT POSTS, TIPS

Previous Post: « Strawberry coconut milk shake recipe
Next Post: Tamil New Year Menu Ideas, Thamizh New year menu »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anitha

    April 11, 2020 at 4:01 pm

    Hi Raji,
    Please suggest me the UHT milk brand in Singapore.
    Thanks
    Anitha

    Reply
    • Raks Anand

      April 11, 2020 at 4:27 pm

      If you can get it from Indian groceries, Amul blue tetra pack works. Been using Mangnolia earlier otherwise.

      Reply
  2. Vidhya

    April 12, 2020 at 11:09 am

    So well written! This is one of the best recipes I have read online. Detailed and complete, with all sorts of critical questions addressed.

    Reply
  3. طراحی سایت

    April 12, 2020 at 10:22 pm

    amazing thanks for share

    Reply
  4. Anitha

    April 12, 2020 at 11:33 pm

    Thanks !!

    Reply
  5. Malar

    April 13, 2020 at 9:16 am

    When you state about chilli, is it the normal fresh red/green chilli, dried chilli or the small chilli padis?

    Reply
    • Raks Anand

      April 13, 2020 at 2:57 pm

      Green chilli is fresh, red chilli is dried. I will update this in post too (y)

      Reply
  6. Gayathri Narayan

    April 18, 2020 at 12:54 pm

    Thanks for the detailed recipe for thayir. However, People everywhere, from generations, have ALWAYS told me that we should use a Wide-mouthed vessel for setting curd. You say, use a narrow-mouthed vessel to retain the warmth longer. Which one should I use?

    Reply
    • Raks Anand

      April 18, 2020 at 3:01 pm

      Please choose which ever works for you. I have just shared my experience.

      Reply
  7. SPM

    June 21, 2020 at 1:42 am

    Thank you Ms. Rajeswari – very helpful and to the point!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

About Me

Hi,
I am Rajeswari Vijayanand, cook, author, photographer behind Raks Kitchen.

Instagram

Read More…

Latest posts

  • Avocado crema, avocado dip/ spread
  • Veppam poo thuvaiyal, neem flower recipes
  • Dangar chutney, Dangar side dish for idli dosa
  • Bajra khichdi recipe, pearl millet khichdi
  • No bake oats energy balls, oats peanut butter energy bites

Browse older posts

logo

Browse by category

BY INGREDIENT

  • PANEER RECIPES
  • CARROT RECIPES
  • BEETROOT RECIPES
  • MILLET RECIPES

Top Posts & Pages

  • Dangar chutney, Dangar side dish for idli dosa
  • Eggless doughnut recipe, Basic donut, soft & light
  • Ragi adai with drumstick leaves
  • Adai recipe, How to make adai
  • Recipe index
  • Indian lunch menu ideas
  • Easy rasam recipe, How to make rasam
  • Appam recipe without yeast, How to make appam
  • Medhu vadai, Ulundu vadai recipe - With video
  • Godhumai rava upma recipe, Wheat rava upma

TOP CATEGORIES

  • TIFFIN SAMBAR RECIPES
  • BIRYANI RECIPES
  • PULAO RECIPES
  • DOSA RECIPES

IDIYAPPAM RECIPES

  • Chilli garlic vegetable idiyappam
  • Schezwan style idiyappam recipe
  • Masala tomato idiyappam, winning recipe by Sanjana Yugan
  • Lemon idiyappam recipe
  • Kothu idiyappam recipe | Masala idiyappam
  • Idiyappam varieties | Lemon, Dal, sweet (Breakfast menu–18)
  • Sweet idiyappam recipe (With coconut and Jaggery)
  • Stuffed idiyappam – Breakfast menu 7
  • Milagu jeeraga idiyappam recipe | Breakfast recipes
  • Puli idiyappam recipe | Variety idiyappam recipes
  • Thengai sevai recipe | Coconut sevai
  • Tomato sevai | Thakkali sevai recipe

PIZZA RECIPES

  • Stovetop pizza recipe, Tawa pizza
  • Pizza sandwich recipe | Easy kids lunch box ideas
  • Pizza dosa recipe | Kids snack recipes
  • Veggie thin crust pizza recipe
  • Spicy veggie pizza recipe | Homemade pizza with Zucchini topping
  • Paneer tikka pizza recipe| Indian flavored pizza
  • Bread pizza Bread cup pizza recipe
  • Homemade pizza recipe, how to make pizza

Footer

Connect with Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

I am Raks anand, writer and photographer of this recipe website. My real name is Rajeswari Vijayanand. It has been almost 10+ years of blogging and I thought if you want to know more about me, I should introduce myself to you all… I am also like most of the house wives, who learnt cooking only after marriage... Read More

Copyright © 2007 - 2019 Raks Kitchen, All rights reserved.
Privacy & Cookies