Vegan Mishti Doi

5 from 4 votes

The Bengali sweetened yogurt dish, Mishti Doi, is literally one of the most delicious things you can ever eat. This recipe for a blissfully vegan Mishti Doi has probiotic cultures, just like the original, and it tastes as good!

Prep Time5

Cook Time15

Setting and chilling time12

Total Time12 20

Course: Breakfast/Dessert

Cuisine: Indian (Bengali)

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings: servings

Calories: 264kcal

Author: Vaishali · Holy Cow Vegan

Equipment

Saucepan
Instant Pot (optional)
4 ramekins

Ingredients

1 cup raw cashews (soaked in water for 30 minutes, then drained)
2 cups distilled or filtered water
2 tablespoon almond flour (use the kind labeled "super fine" or "finely ground")
⅓ to ½ cup sugar (preferably use coconut sugar, but vegan cane sugar or any sugar works just as well. If using jaggery see notes below for how to tweak recipe.)
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional, but it helps stir in more sweetness. This helps as we are replacing dairy milk, which has lots of natural sugars in it)
2 vegetarian probiotic capsules

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Blend the cashews with the 2 cups of distilled or filtered water into a very smooth milk/cream. Set aside.
Place the sugar in a heavy saucepan with 2 tablespoon water. Let the sugar melt and then caramelize. The sugar will clump before it melts and then loosen up, so don't worry if it take a little while. Keep stirring the sugar frequently so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.
Let the sugar turn a rich caramel color, then turn the heat down to the lowest point or turn it off. Pour in the cashew milk gently. Take care and stand back as the milk can bubble when it hits the hot caramel.
Turn the heat back on to medium high and let the milk come to a boil. Stir frequently. The milk will begin to thicken in a few minutes. Once it has thickened, stir in the almond flour and mix well.
Add the vanilla extract, if using, and turn off the heat. Let the cashew cream sit for a few minutes until it's lukewarm to the touch, around 110 degrees. Don't add the probiotic capsules before it reaches this temperature or the high heat will kill the good bacteria and the yogurt won't set.
Open the probiotic capsules and stir the powder into the cashew cream. Immediately pour it into four ramekins or a single large heat-safe bowl. Make sure first that they will fit inside the Instant Pot liner, if you are using an IP.
Place the ramekins or the bowl inside the Instant Pot liner. Close the IP lid and set it to the "yogurt" function for 8-10 hours. Eight hours will yield a less tangy mishti doi, if that's what you prefer. I find 10 hours works just right for me.
If you don't have an Instant Pot, leave the mishti doi out in a warm spot for 24-36 hours, like a cold oven with the light turned on. My oven light is on the fritz so I left a ramekin on the countertop in my September kitchen, with daytime temps in the 70s, and it took around 36 hours to set.
Once the mishti doi has set, garnish it with nuts and saffron, if you wish. Chill for a couple of hours at least before serving.

Notes

If using jaggery in this recipe, you can skip the step for caramelizing the sugar. Instead heat the cashew milk, and once it begins to boil, stir in the jaggery. Make sure that the jaggery is powdered or chopped into really small pieces before you stir it in, and also make sure it melts completely into the milk before you stop cooking.
Make sure you use ramekins that will fit inside the Instant Pot liner and are oven-safe. Terracotta ramekins won't work here.

Nutrition