Blicky Discovers Homemade Yogurt

Well, Blicky's paws are covered with yogurt, so I'll have to manage this post on my own. Thank you Melanie for your instructions about making homemade yogurt on the wonderful Bean Sprouts blog. I can't believe how simple it is! I was spending way too much money on Fage and it didn't feel good amassing all of those hard-to-recycle containers. I still need to play around a bit and I might need a better pot for heating milk because I always seem to overheat it a little and it leaves a burned aftertaste. When I get it right it's heavenly.

I don't know if it's my Anatolian ancestral lineage calling or simply my eccentric Armenian taxidriver uncle who sat with homeless people on park benches and lectured them about Queen Victoria, why the colonies should have remained loyal to England, or how yogurt and prunes can make you live 100 years. He's the one on the right. You could see him walking all over town well into his 90's anyway. My great-grandmother (seated) used to make it herself and I think some cousins had kept the same culture going until fairly recently. 

I'm happy enough with my Fage starter. Here's a really yummy, healthy breakfast recipe: 1 cup homemade (Greek-style) yogurt. 1/2 cup fresh or frozen red rasberries with about 4 or 5 crunched-up pecans on whole grain waffles. I'm so besotted with my yummy breakfast that I really need to start making homemade waffles and freezing them. Past generations were so much more adept and resourceful with the daily requirements of life. These simple things ought to be even easier for us with all our new gizmos. Below are some Armenian ancestors from Husenig in Kharpert (Harput). This was taken before the Armenian genocide.

Sadly, even though the process should be dummy-proof I goof a lot. Last week a batch came out burned and yucky so I used it to make saag paneer tonight. With this recipe I substitute tofu for paneer and I use a bit more yogurt and whole milk instead of the buttermilk and half and half. It comes out really yummy and healthy. You can mix up your own garam masala too with 2tb. each of cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and black pepper. It's probably not authentic Indian, but I like where the flavors sit in my mouth when I do it that way.