Made Mums chicken curry last night....tasted beautiful until the end when I added the yoghurt. It curdled :o(

We ate it anyway!

Cheers

Steve

It is a great recipe isn't it!

It really does need to use full fat yoghurt, I use the greek style. Certainly none of this healthy skimmed business.

One trick I've used is to add spoonfuls of the curry 'gravy' to the yoghurt and stir gently before adding back to the pot. That way if the yoghurt were to curdle when the gravy is added you still can have a second (or third!) chance.

Yes, full fat yoghurt...

And Winton's idea is spot on about taking some grave, stirring it into the yoghurt then adding whole lot back in to curry. I suspect it's because it warms up the yoghurt temperature... so maybe it's worth taking it out of fridge so it's not ice cold when you add it? Mum can advise whether that's worth doing or not?

I always had problems with yoghurt curdling, until I moved to London. I use a brand called 'continental'thick and creamy, natural set yoghurt, from Romford in Essex. No matter what I use it for, it never curdles. I wonder if its down to the species of lactobacillus which makes the yoghurt?

I buy a 1kg tub, and I just found an unopened one in the fridge, wonder if I can still use it, as its already 'off'?

Yeah its my fault for not looking at the tub. Not to worry, will try it again soon without the yoghurt. I even brought some for lunch and couldnt eat it.

Cheers

Steve

The recipes with yoghurt should have this at the bottom.

"Tips for cooking with yoghurt:

• Always use full fat yoghurt, if possible. Skimmed milk yoghurt sometimes curdles during cooking. If you wish to use low fat yoghurt, add 1 heaped teaspoon of plain or corn flour per cup of yoghurt.

• Make sure that the dish you are cooking is at room temperature. If yoghurt is cooked straight from the fridge, it may curdle.

• When adding yoghurt during cooking, take out a few tablespoons of the hot food in a bowl, mix yoghurt, warming it a bit and then stir it back into the hot dish.

*Substitute sour cream for yoghurt, using only half the amount. "

If yoy find any recipes that don't have it, please let me know, i will add it to them.

Mamta

Unfortunately it isnt at the bottom of the recipe Mamta. I rummaged through the bin just now and the tub said 99.8% fat free :o(

Cheers

Steve

I know this one didn't Steve :-), because I just added it this morning, before going swimming! I have added it in the past to many recipes using yougurt, but some always slip through. Hence the request to let me know if you see any using yoghurt that do not mention these tips.

Mum

Above where it says:

• Make sure that the dish you are cooking is at room temperature. If yoghurt is cooked straight from the fridge, it may curdle.

Shouldn't this read:

• Make sure that the yoghurt is at room temperature. If yoghurt is cooked / added to a hot dish straight from the fridge, it may curdle.

I made this (again!) last night and as ever was delicious, everyone always seems to love it - if you haven't tried it do!

I did use a free range chicken - wow! The flavour and texture of the meat was fantastic, especially as I had repeatedly prodded it with a fork to let the gravy flavours seep in!

Great Winton!

Kav, just noticed your comment, yes you are right. Is there a way of corecting it in all recipes in one go? It will be difficult to find them all one by one!

Forgot to add...... As I had doubled up on the sauce ingredients I have enough gravy left over for an egg curry today!

LOL! I do that sometimes. If I find that I have made too much curry sauce, I take some out for another day!

Kav, I have corrected the yoghurt tip in the recipes I could think of. If there is a way of doing centrally, this is what I have replaced it with, making sure that there is a star* in front of yoghurt in the ingredients;

"*A few tips for cooking with yoghurt :

Always use full fat yoghurt, if possible. Skimmed milk yoghurt sometimes curdles during cooking. If you wish to use low fat yoghurt, add 1 heaped teaspoon of plain or corn flour per cup of yoghurt.

Make sure that the yoghurt is at room temperature. If chilled yoghurt straight from the fridge is added to a hot dish, it may curdle.

Or, take out a few tablespoons of the hot food in a bowl, mix yoghurt, warming it a bit and then stir it back into the hot dish.

Substitute sour cream for yoghurt, using only half the amount."

Winton's idea of mixing yogurt with gravy is good. I once, in a hurry, added yogurt in my fish curry sauce straight from the fridge and it curdled. But since the fried fish was not yet in the pan, hence we ended up with an unusual lunch of noodles (2 minutes) with fried fish as a side dish. And an embarassed chef. ;)

Since reading about full-fat yoghurt on this site, my yoghurt-based Indian suaces have been much better. It's amazing how hard you have to look to find the full-fat stuff: low-fat is now the order of the day.

Phil

It's amazing how hard you have to look to find the full-fat stuff:

It is very easy to make at home, and much cheaper :-).

Thanks for that tip, Mamta. I must have a go at that.

Phil

I think that adding curds straight from the fridge being a bad thing is a red herring, I do it all the time, and don't have any problems. I use set yoghurt, if that makes any difference. And I think that the difference in fat content between full fat and low fat is only 2%, so not much. However, it may be enough. The full fat will have a liaison between water-based and fat-based constituents, and may blend easier than the reduced fat curds.

There are many different lactobacilli, so there can be many different yoghurts, one is made from bifidus, a bacterium found in the gut of neonates!!

No, no way of correcting in one go.