Strawberry Bhapa Doi| Strawberry-Flavoured Steamed Yogurt

We knew absolutely nothing about Bengali food a year ago. Our only exposure to the cuisine had been via a visit to Oh! Calcutta! years ago. Then, a trip to Calcutta happened. Food blogging and cooking challenges happened. Interactions with Bengali food bloggers happened. Durga Pujo pandal hopping happened. Visits to Bengali festivals happened. Today, we are much more aware of various Bengali dishes than we were earlier – we don’t know everything about the cuisine yet, but we surely know more than what we used to.

The husband and I are constantly amazed by the huge variety of sweets that the Bengalis make using curd in various forms. We discovered bhapa doi (Bengali steamed yogurt) last year, and have been in love with it ever since. I went on to make a pressure-cooker bhapa doi, and it turned out to be a hit. When ‘Durga Pujo recipes’ was announced as the theme for this week’s Foodie Monday Blog Hop, I decided to try making bhapa doi again. This time around, I made it a strawberry bhapa doi, in my Morphy Richards OTG. I must say, it turned out absolutely beautiful!

The texture of this strawberry bhapa doi is so, so, so good – we gobbled it all up spoonful by spoonful. It was so easy to make too. I am pretty sure this isn’t the last time I have made this.

Here’s how I made the strawberry bhapa doi.

This recipe has been adapted from Piyali Sekar Mutha’s raspberry bhapa doi post at My Tryst With Food And Travel.

Ingredients (makes about 6 servings):

1. 1 cup thick hung curd
2. 1/4 cup full-fat milk
3. 200 ml sweetened condensed milk
4. 4 teaspoons strawberry conserve

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven at 200 degrees for 10 minutes.
2. Take the hung curd, full-fat milk, condensed milk and strawberry conserve in a large mixing bowl.
3. Whisk gently, ensuring everything is well combined together.
4. Pour the mixture into a baking tray. There’s no need to grease the tray.
5. Cover the top of the baking tray, tightly, with aluminium foil.
6. Place the baking tray into a larger vessel about half filled with plain water. The tray should be about half immersed in water.
7. Place the vessel in the pre-heated oven. Bake at 160 degrees for 35 minutes or till a knife inserted in the centre of the bhapa doi comes out reasonably clean. If the bhapa doi looks like it isn’t done yet, bake for 5-10 minutes more.
8. Let the vessel rest as is till it comes to room temperature and is cool enough to handle.
9. Now, remove the baking tray from the water and let it chill, covered, for about 2 hours in the refrigerator.
10. Serve chilled, for best results.

Notes:

1. I hung 500 ml store-bought curd (Nandini) in a cotton cloth atop my kitchen sink for about 3 hours, and got 1 cup of thick hung curd.
2. I used Nandini full-cream milk and Amul Mithai Mate (sweetened condensed milk) to make this dish.
3. I used whole strawberry conserve by L’ Exclusif to make this dish. The whole strawberries in the conserve take the flavour of the bhapa doi to a whole new level.
4. You can use any other flavoured jam in place of the strawberry one. Mango, blueberry, raspberry.. the list is endless!
5. This dish can be served with strawberry syrup and fresh, cut strawberries too. I didn’t have any of these things, and hence served it as is.
6. I made the bhapa doi in my Morphy Richards OTG, but you could use a steamer or idli cooker to make it as well.
7. Don’t miss out on chilling the bhapa doi in the refrigerator, after it is cooked. This is an important step, which will help it to set better and add to its taste.
8. Baking times might vary from one person to another, depending upon the type of ingredients used and the oven. My bhapa doi was done in exactly 35 minutes.
9. Don’t worry if the bhapa doi looks a little jiggly in the centre, after baking. It will set further on chilling, and it will taste good any way!
10. It is important to cover the vessel in which you are baking with aluminium foil, to ensure that no water enters it. Ensure that the foil is tightly covered, without any tears.
11. It is natural for a little water to accumulate around the bhapa doi, while baking. Just tilt the vessel slightly to remove it, before chilling.

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This is my submission for the Foodie Monday Blog Hop. The theme for the week is ‘Durga Pooja Special’.

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