Misti Dahi – Yogurt cheesecake

Delicacy Sweets From West Bengal, India

West Bengal is very famous for its delicacy sweets.  One of my favourite sweets growing up was Misti Dahi.  No need to say that was one of my love affairs with yogurt, that explains it is very hard for me to be vegan completely.  Looking back this was a healthy dessert.

Healthy Alternative To Cheesecake

Misti Dahi is creamy and velvety smooth. It is very similar to a cheesecake.  I love to make MISTI DAHI as well as cheese cake without the eggs.

Usually Misti Dahi is made by boiling and reducing milk so it becomes little thick and creamy adding molasses made by dates or plain brown sugar to make it sweet. Earthenware or bakeware can be used to set the yogurt. The reason to use earthenware is because of its porous nature, which allows the water in the yogurt to be absorbed.  Earthenware in picture is courtesy of my Bengali friend Rita Ghosh.

How To Make Misti Dahi

Prep time 10 minutes
Bake time 3 hours
chill in refrigerator over night    

Ingredients:

1 Cup sweetened condense milk
2 Cup Greek plain yogurt
1 Tsp Rose water optional

Garnish:

Freshly grated nutmeg
Fresh seasonal fruit cut into small bite size pieces
Pistachio and/or saffron
5 heatproof bowls

 

How to prepare:

  1. Mix the condense milk, yogurt and rose water in a bowl.
  2. Whisk till mixture becomes smooth.
  3. Divide the mixture equally into the earthen bowls.
  4. Cover the bowls with aluminum foils.
  5. Place the oven rack in middle of the oven.
  6. Heat the oven on low setting of 75 degrees.
  7. keep the bowls in the oven for 3 hours.
  8. Remove from oven and refrigerate overnight.
  9. Garnish with grated nutmeg, pistachio, or choice of your fruit. Enjoy!

Dahi with Pomegranate, yumm!

What do you think of this healthy alternative to cheesecake? Let me know in the comments below!