🥣 Dahi

Dahi is a yogurt-like fermented milk product from the Indian subcontinent; in Indian English it is often called curd. According to FAO, it has been India's most important fermented milk product since time immemorial. It is made at home, by small dairies in towns and cities, and in large factories.

Cow's or buffalo milk, or a mix of the two, is boiled, sometimes cooked down, and then inoculated with a portion of the previous day's dahi or buttermilk. Good dahi has a mild, clean, slightly sour taste, a smooth glossy surface and a firm texture with no gas bubbles. Made from cow's milk it is yellowish-cream; from buffalo milk, creamy white. The Indian standard distinguishes sweet dahi, with acidity up to 0.7%, from sour dahi, with up to 1.0%.

Dahi is the starting point for many other products. Whipped with a little water, it becomes lassi; the buttermilk left after churning dahi is chhaas, with 1–2% fat; strained dahi is chakka, the base of shrikhand. In Bengal, people love mishti doi: 6–6.5% sugar is added to the milk, which is then fermented for 12–15 hours at 40–45 °C.

Dahi or yogurt, Greek yogurt, curd? In India dahi and curd are the same thing. It is made from cow's or buffalo milk boiled, cooled and inoculated with a spoonful of the previous day's dahi, and under FSSAI rules it needs live lactic acid bacteria, not a named pair of strains as in yogurt standards. Strained dahi is chakka, close to Greek-style yogurt and the base of shrikhand. Whipped with water it becomes lassi, and what is left after churning is chhaas, with 1–2% fat.

On the pack look for “dahi” or “curd”, plain or sweet. In India plain dahi must hold at least as much milk fat and solids-not-fat as the milk it was made from, and flavoured dahi may be sold only prepacked. Live starter bacteria must number at least 10⁷ CFU per gram until the end of the shelf life. It is sold in Indian and South Asian grocers and in the chilled world-food aisle of larger supermarkets; keep it at 0–5 °C.

Why it matters to you. Under the rules of the Indian regulator FSSAI, plain dahi has to contain no less milk fat and solids-not-fat than the milk it was made from, and flavored dahi may only be sold prepacked. Live starter bacteria have to number at least 10⁷ CFU per gram until the end of the shelf life. According to FAO, even people with lactose intolerance can eat dahi. Keep it in the refrigerator at 0–5 °C.