Homemade Plain Yogurt/ Dahi (using grocery store yogurt culture)

This recipe people is priceless. My MIL/Aai developed this after much trial and error and it works flawlessly every time. Plain yogurt or dahi is an integral part of the Indian diet. Many Indians complain about the store bought yogurt since it is full of pectin and tastes different from our lovely homemade dahi that all our Indian moms make. Also many think they have to get the culture from India to make it just like home. As you will see just use your regular store bought yogurt as culture and it works just fine. Quite frankly I didn't think eating store boiught yogurt was bad or mattered so much until i started eating this yogurt and now its hard for me to go back to my old ways. Just invest in one thing-the yogurt maker. Due to the temperature presure conditions in the united states, making dahi at home reuires a yogurt maker. Yogurt makers can cost from 20 to 50 dollars. I bought mine for 25 bucks online and i LOVE it. So if you haven't tried it yet, try this one for sure.

Ingredients

1/2 Liter whole milk
1.5 tblsp non fat dry milk (skim milk powder)
1/8th tsp store bought yogurt (yes very little, amount equivalent of 1/4 of your first digit on your finger) For me Dannon or Mountain High worked well, not so well with Organic ones for some reason.

Method

Dissolve milk powder in whole milk. Microwave on high for one minute. Stir. Milk should be lukewarm. Add yogurt culture and stir well. Place in yogurt maker for approximately 6-7 hours. This time can change depending on how much culture you use. Too much culture will result in faster setting but the yogurt can turn sour.The time of incubation can be adjusted for overnight setting by adding even lesser culture. Yogurt is ready when it is thick but not completely set and gelled. Place it in the refrigerator for atleast 2 hours and it will set to perfection. Serve chilled.