Bengali Mishti Doi Recipe with Jaggery

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This utterly creamy and delicious Bengali Mishti Doi Recipe with Jaggery is a MUST-HAVE dessert. The thickened milk is sweetened with Palm Jaggery and then mixed with strained yogurt to make the world-famous misti doi. The taste is unforgettably rich, creamy, and luxurious!

This Bengali sweet dish is simple and unpretentious. Mishti Doi (Misti Doi) is the most popular dessert in West Bengal, India & Bangladesh which is known as Meetha Dahi or Sweet Yogurt to rest of the world.

WHAT IS MISHTI DOI?

So, what is Mishti Doi? What does it mean? Well, In the Bengali language ‘mishti’ means sweet and ‘doi’ is curd/yogurt. In Hindi, you can call it meetha dahi. So, in a nutshell, Mishti Doi is nothing but Sweetened Yogurt.

The yogurt can be sweetened with honey, sugar, brown sugar, or jaggery. In this recipe, I have used palm jaggery to make mishti doi. In Ayurveda, it’s believe that, when you mix a bit of jaggery with yogurt, it helps in maintaining your metabolism and makes you feel less hungry. It also maintains the body temperature. Eating curd and jaggery together prevents diseases like anemia. You can consume them together daily.

NOW, WHAT IS PALM JAGGERY

Known as Gur, Jaggery is unrefined sugar made from sugar cane or palm. Jaggery has many health benefits and is way better than sugar from a health benefits standpoint. Jaggery is made with pressed and distilled palm or cane juice. After extracting juice from a cane or palm, it goes through the process of clarification by training to produce a clear liquid. The final step is to boil the liquid until only a yellow, dough-like paste remains.

This “dough” is then transferred to molds or containers where it cools into jaggery, which looks something like this:

WHY JAGGERY BETTER THAN SUGAR

• Jaggery may also contain small amounts of B vitamins and minerals, including calcium, zinc, phosphorus and copper
• Compared to refined sugar, jaggery appears nutritious. Refined white sugar contains only “empty calories” — that is, calories without any vitamins or minerals
• Jaggery contains more nutrients than refined sugar because of its molasses content.

If you love this classic Indian dessert, you will love this Mishti doi recipe. You will need basic pantry ingredients to make this classic Bengali sweet. Prepared with simple and healthier ingredients like milk, curd culture and palm jaggery. The use of Palm jaggery in this Mishti Doi Recipe gives the dessert a beautiful caramel color.

Traditionally, the Mishti Doi is served in earthen bowls or pans. The porous walls of the earthen bowls absorbs the moisture from the doi, making the mishti doi thick and creamy. The use of jaggery instead of sugar gives the Mishti Doi a beautiful caramel color and an authentic taste.

WHAT I WILL NEED TO MAKE MISHTI DOI WITH JAGGERY

A complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions is in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

• Full fat milk
• Palm jaggery
• Yogurt

STEP BY STEP METHOD I NEED TO MAKE BENGALI SWEET YOGURT

Step 1- Strain the yogurt. Place a cheesecloth on a colander and pour the yogurt on it. Then grab the edges of the cloth and squeeze it gently to drain off the excess water. Keep it aside for an hour.

Step 1 – Heat milk in a deep bottom vessel in medium heat. Let the milk come to a boil. Then continue to simmer the milk on a low to medium-low flame. Stir often when the milk is getting simmered. Simmer the milk till it reduces to 1/2 of the original quantity. Switch off the gas and wait for 8/10 minutes for the milk to cool down.

Step 2- In a non-stick pan, heat the khejur gur/jaggery to melt. Keep stirring till the jaggery melts and becomes frothy.

Step 3 – Add the reduced thickened milk into the jaggery and stir well with a whisk. Make sure that you are adding warm milk to the jaggery It should not very hot or cold.

Step 4- Add the Greek yogurt into the warm milk and jaggery mixture and mix it very well with a whisk

Step 5 – If you are using earthen pot(s), then apply some yogurt inside the pot as you see in the picture below

Step 6 – Now pour the Doi mixture into earthen/terracotta pots. Heat your oven to 250 degree F and keep the pot inside the oven for a couple hours. After few hours switch off the oven but let the yogurt to stay inside for few more hours. All total it will take you about 8/9 hours to have the mishti doi to set. 

Step 7 – When the mishti doi is set, then refrigerate. Serve mishti doi with your meals or as a dessert.

WHAT TIPS I NEED TO MAKE MISHTI DOI AT HOME

• Earthern Pots: They absorb excess water and make the mitha dahi thick and creamy. Use earthen bowls or pots if possible.  The porous walls of the earthen bowls absorb the moisture from the yogurt, which makes the mishti doi firm and thick.
• Don’t disturb the setting time. While the yogurt is setting, don’t touch or move the pot. It will take at least 8 hours for the dahi to set.
•  When you are adding your thickened milk with jaggery, make sure the milk is lukewarm – you should be able to insert a finger in the milk comfortably. Too hot milk if added to the jaggery, it may curdle.
• Use full fat milk or full cream milk.
• The time to set the Mishti Doi will also depend upon the local temperature conditions. If you live in cold climate zones, keep the yogurt in a warm place in your house.  Inside a lit oven, near a heater vent or gas stove are good options.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

I don’t have jaggery. What else can I use in place of jaggery/gur to make caramelized sweetened yogurt?

You can use brown sugar, coconut sugar or even honey to sweeten the milk and to make misti doi.

I don’t have traditional earthen pots to set the misti doi. What else can I use?

You can use any container you have. Make sure that they are oven safe.

Do I have to use the oven?

No, you don’t. You can let the dahi to set in a warm place for 9/10 hours.

Can I use flavorings in mishti doi?

Yes, you can use cardamom powder, nutmeg etc.

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