More Sorta Yogurts
If you’re among those interested in making sorta yogurts with milks that aren’t soy-based, fear not: it’s actually only slightly different from the original recipe.
I’ve tried coconut (you can see it up there, sweetened with 2 tablespoons (24 g) raw sugar and flavored with pure vanilla extract) and rice (no added sugar, flavored with the zest of about half a lemon) milk versions so far, and will check out the theory with almond and hemp in the coming days. Next step will be to put all of these to the test by using them in baked goods.
Update: Made brownies, too busy devouring to type, but it worked just fine.
Update 2: Hemp works too. Don’t use unsweetened, though, unless you already know you love it. The smell of it isn’t my friend: I’m used to the chocolate-flavored version of this particular milk, and it shows.
I’ll tweet (sweet mother of cod, I’ve become one of those…) about it all and update this very post once that’s taken care of, so as not to make a brand new post every time something yogurt-y this way comes.
All you have to do is use 2 whole tablespoons (16 g) cornstarch instead of only 1 to 1 1/2, and cook it between 4 and 5 minutes instead of 3. You might have to adjust cooking time depending on the brand and type of milk you use, as well as depending on how mega-powerful your microwave is. You’ll figure it out with practice, no worries.
With the rice milk version, I didn’t bother using the blender again after the initial time that is meant to make sure no undissolved cornstarch remains, since it is and stays so thin throughout the cooking time, but simply and gently swirled the container around.
With the coconut version, I only blended before cooking and then once halfway through.
By the way: be sure to use a large enough container, because the mixture will foam and rise after a couple of minutes of cooking; be sure to turn off the microwave and let the mixture fall down before starting again. This is what I use for that purpose: it’s heat-resistant, cheap, and will do your laundry for you if you ask nicely.
You will find that the yogurt will still be rather thin when 4 minutes have passed: that’s okay, because it will thicken up after spending several hours in the fridge. And by “several hours”, I do indeed mean several hours: aim for at least 3 hours for best results. You will have to stir the yogurt before use, in order to obtain the traditional creamy, smooth quality you’re looking for.
I must admit that the coconut version is my favorite of all, and the rice milk one…well, let’s just say I’m not a fan of rice milk itself to begin with, but I guess the texture is fairly close to the commercial type of rice yogurt you can get these days.
As always, feedback is more than welcome if/when you give this a try.
So, to sum it up…
Homemade Sorta Soygurt, It’s Back and It’s Kicking Your… 1 cup (235 ml) coconut or rice or hemp milk
1 to 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 ml) fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons (24 g) raw sugar (increase or decrease amounts depending on preference and use.)
2 tablespoons (16 g) cornstarch
Pinch fine sea salt, optionalAs for the flavorings: I almost always add 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, sometimes 1 packed teaspoon lemon zest (be sure to grate the zest while the lemon is still whole!): you choose.
Combine milk and lemon juice in a medium bowl, let curdle for a few seconds.
Add sweetener, cornstarch, optional salt, and flavoring.
With an immersion blender, combine ingredients by blending for about one minute.
Heat in microwave for 2 minutes: throughout cooking, keep a close eye on it to make sure the mixture doesn’t bubble up to make a mess in your microwave. Blend again, stir with a fork, or swirl to stir, if using rice milk.
Heat in microwave for 2 minutes again, blend, stir with fork, or swirl.
Heat up to another whole last minute: the top of the mixture will have the appearance of a thin pudding, which will tell you that you can stop.
Store in fridge to thicken. You will have to stir again before using.
Enjoy chilled.Yield: About 1 1/2 cups
Shellyfish said,
May 31, 2009 at 6:32 am
Sorta yogurt? Well, you’re sorta freaking amazing! And I blame you for my Twitter addiction! Biz!
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veggie wedgie said,
May 31, 2009 at 6:54 am
Beautiful Picture!
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Yum said,
May 31, 2009 at 8:19 am
Wonderful, i’ll have to try!
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Carla K. said,
May 31, 2009 at 9:14 am
Thank you so much for this recipe: this will be a favourite with my kids for sure!
Carla
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SweetKaroline said,
May 31, 2009 at 9:26 am
Just made your ’sorta’ soymilk yogurt yesterday and it turned out great! I don’t know if it’s something I’ll do all the time, but it was a really fun experiment!
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Shelby said,
May 31, 2009 at 9:44 am
Perfect! I can’t have soy and I just bought coconut milk!
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Natalie said,
May 31, 2009 at 10:29 am
Holy mother of mackerel, I can’t believe you’re a tweetin’ hipster!
Hehehe, but man are you trailblazing! Hemp, rice, almond yogurt? Loooooove your brain and culinary skills
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Deb Schiff said,
May 31, 2009 at 11:20 am
Mother of cod. Ahhahahahaaa. Fell off my chair when I read that. I need help.
You are truly the awesomest!
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alex Reply:
May 31st, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Are the probiotic cultures available in health food stores vegan? I’ve made a yogurtish pudding with soy milk, tofu, lemon, sugar, and probiotic culture (the suppliment in refridgerated bottles.) The flavor is perfect.
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Celine Reply:
May 31st, 2009 at 12:36 pm
don’t know if they are, but it is possible to find them. I just want the ease of not having to deal with them.
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Celine Reply:
May 31st, 2009 at 12:42 pm
ps: here.
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Batty said,
May 31, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Thanks for experimenting with non-soy yogurt! I can’t eat soy, but love yogurt… am curious about the vegan-ness of probiotic cultures sold at health food stores as well. There’s got to be such a thing or they wouldn’t be able to make vegan yogurt to begin with, right?
I have no idea what those cultures are grown from.
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Celine Reply:
May 31st, 2009 at 12:41 pm
here!
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macie said,
May 31, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Can this be used in savory dishes (curry & naan, perhaps?)
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Celine Reply:
May 31st, 2009 at 1:29 pm
as long as you keep it plain and don’t add any sweetener, it would be great.
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Josiane said,
May 31, 2009 at 1:34 pm
All I have to do for that measuring cup to do the laundry is to ask nicely? Wow! Thanks for the tip: I think you’ve just changed my life!
(Is our Twitter kind of sillyness acceptable here? I sure hope so, ’cause otherwise I’d be very afraid to commit faux pas. I just can’t help it any more: sillyness and celineness, and all that stuff, you know…)
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Celine Reply:
May 31st, 2009 at 1:47 pm
you had never thought to ask the measuring cup before? I am sorely disappointed.
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Josiane Reply:
May 31st, 2009 at 1:59 pm
I know! So sorry I couldn’t live up to your expectations on that one. I’ll hopefully do better next time.
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Celine Reply:
May 31st, 2009 at 2:00 pm
s’okay…I’ll forgive you this time. mais n’y reviens pas!
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Josiane Reply:
May 31st, 2009 at 2:09 pm
T’es trop bonne. Je vais faire de mon mieux pour mériter la mansuétude dont tu as si généreusement fait preuve à mon égard cette fois-ci. :)
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Courtney said,
May 31, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I love the new look of your blog–the new header is nice!
The almond milk works fine, but you do need to let it thicken up in the fridge (like the rice milk version) :o) Thank you so much for the recipe! I am thrilled to be able to have yogurt that I can actually stomach and like again (I am not a fan of the commercial soy yogurts…blech!)!
Courtney
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have cake, will travel » Homemade Sorta Soygurt said,
May 31, 2009 at 1:53 pm
[...] so that’s what I go for. Update: tried it with coconut milk, but with a few changes. Info here. 1 to 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 ml) fresh lemon juice: 1 is enough to curdle the milk, but I like the [...]
dreamin'itvegan said,
May 31, 2009 at 2:05 pm
I’m taken by your coconut yogurt. My son is just now starting to want coconut things.
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Oraphan said,
May 31, 2009 at 4:18 pm
You are amazing! I have to try this, I love coconut milk, thanks for sharing.
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Elyse said,
May 31, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Yay! I can’t wait to try this out. I want to run out and get some coconut milk to try it. Delish!
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DJ Karma said,
May 31, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Just got a yogurt maker, but your way seems so much easier!
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Melisser said,
May 31, 2009 at 11:33 pm
AWESOME! I’m off soy right now, so I should try this.
Girl, I thought you hadn’t updated in ages, but for some reason your updates won’t show on my Bloglines! :(
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Vegetation said,
June 1, 2009 at 1:06 am
Oh Celine! Coconut yoghurt! I definitely love you!!!!!! I can’t wait to try it!! I tried coconut milk yoghurt the “traditional” way once and it was a nightmare. Thankfully this seems like it’s even Amy~proof :D
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Vegetation said,
June 1, 2009 at 1:08 am
PS. Your massive pyrex jug does the dishes?!?!! I got ripped off with mine! I begged it the other night and it stoically ignored my pleas for hours!
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Mihl said,
June 1, 2009 at 1:14 am
That is really fantastic! I’ve often turned down a recipe because it called for yoghurt and I didn’t have some. And this might give me a very good reason to make my own hemp milk.
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veggievixen said,
June 1, 2009 at 5:09 am
that’s awesome! your like a little kitchen scientist.
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Sal said,
June 1, 2009 at 12:56 pm
oh my god – you rule!! must try this!
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Vaala said,
June 2, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Ooo, this looks like fun. I must give it a go…
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wannabeavegan said,
June 3, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Thanks Celine – first you get me obsessed with making my own granola (have some cooling now!) AND now I need to make my own yogurt. You’re gonna turn me into a hippie and I am a city (Los Angeles) loving kinda gal…
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Celine Reply:
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:31 pm
just make sure not to let your armpits go smelly, and you’ll be just fine!
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wannabeavegan Reply:
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Thank goodness I like to shave and smell good because if not I’d be lost right about now!
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Celine Reply:
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:43 pm
no hemp for you?
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wannabeavegan said,
June 3, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Naw, not too much. I should try it eh?
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Celine Reply:
June 3rd, 2009 at 1:13 pm
I may get struck by lightning for admitting to it but…all health benefits set aside, I’m not the biggest fan either. we are bad, bad vegans.
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Shelby said,
June 10, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Just made the coconut version. It’s cooling in the fridge for tomorrow’s breakfast. Can’t wait =)
I’ll be sure to post about it after I try it.
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Emily said,
June 11, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Oooh, this looks really good! I’m definitely going to try it!
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Marianne said,
June 11, 2009 at 6:06 pm
I assume by “coconut milk” you don’t mean the thick stuff in the can that you would use with curries, etc, but the prepared stuff meant to replace cow’s milk?
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Celine Reply:
June 13th, 2009 at 7:09 am
you mean, coconut cream? but yeah. coconut milk = coconut milk. not coconut cream.
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Noelle said,
June 13, 2009 at 8:13 am
For those of us who don’t own a microwave, can this recipe be prepared using a conventional stove-top? I imagine it would be more time-consuming and that keeping the temperature of a saucepan consistent while removing the mixture to blend several times might be tricky. Still, I’d love to know if anyone has had success with this or another non-microwave method?
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Celine Reply:
June 13th, 2009 at 10:02 am
I’m sure it’d work, after all the principle is the same as for pudding, the only thing that keeps me from going for it is the transferring to an immersion blender-friendly bowl every time, for fear I’d scrape the saucepan.
by all means, give it a go and let us know.
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have cake, will travel » PB & J Pie said,
June 24, 2009 at 5:39 am
[...] 1/2 teaspoon salt to the recipe if using unsalted peanut butter) 3/4 cup (180 g) yogurt of your choice (or store-bought) 1 cup (192 g) raw sugar 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1 cup (120 g for light, [...]