Buttermilk

[Monica Bhide]

Tell me how you use it? Drink it? Add it to cooked rice? Cook with it?

[Edward]

Well, for starters, I don't use as much as I should. I have loved it since I was a small child. I liked to drink it instead of regular milk.

I like to make salted lassi with it. It also makes a very good base for kadhi.

If you put it in the batter for instant mix idlis(such as gits) in place of or along with the water it makes them taste nicer.

[worm@work]

Well, I drink it plain with salt. I drink it mixed with crushed green chillies, kadi patt a (curry leaves), ginger, salt and hing. I mix it with rice and eat the combination with pickle. I use it quite a bit for cooking as well. I make avial and mor kozhambu (sort of a south indian kadhi type preparation with vegetables ?) quite often since i love the tanginess of slightly sour buttermilk in my curries. I grew up guzzling large large quantities of buttermilk from this little pot my mom kept aside especially for me! It was delightful to come home to slightly spiced and naturally cooled (via earthen pots) buttermilk on a hot summer day :). Also, I miss watching the women in my family churn buttermilk. The fesh butter would be served as an accompaniment to several things (adai, neer dosa and so on). A couple of days later, the remaining butter would be converted to ghee to be used for delightfully unhealthy purposes like the making of sweet appams :D... yummmm

-w@w

[Milagai]

same-to-same as worm@work

same memories, food tastes,

and buttermilk uses etc.

only not appams,

but other equally good stuff.

question: what is the difference between US buttermilk

that you get in cartons, and Indian buttermilk?

Are there not two kinds of buttermilk in India:

1) leftover liquid after butter is churned and removed (=chaach)

2) sour and dilute yogurt (=lassi)

Who's the famous chaat place in Bangalore on Commercial

Street? He used to be a hole in the wall and is now a fancy

fast food type place? Gangaram or Haldiram or some such.

He is doing a ROARING business selling chaach and the liquid

leftover after making paneer (his main business is sweets)

as lassi, flavored with salt, green chillies, and cilantro.

AWESOME!

milagai

[foodietraveler]

mom makes mor koidhamba, spelling could be wrong. Like sambhar with buttermilk. Nice and tasty. She learned from neighbor from Karntka.

I bake a lot with buttermilk and use it for cakes too. Sometimes litte tang is nice.

[Monica Bhide]

Well, I drink it plain with salt. I drink it mixed with crushed green chillies, kadi patt a (curry leaves), ginger, salt and hing. I mix it with rice and eat the combination with pickle. I use it quite a bit for cooking as well. I make avial and mor kozhambu (sort of a south indian kadhi type preparation with vegetables ?) quite often since i love the tanginess of slightly sour buttermilk in my curries. I grew up guzzling large large quantities of buttermilk from this little pot my mom kept aside especially for me! It was delightful to come home to slightly spiced and naturally cooled (via earthen pots) buttermilk on a hot summer day :). Also, I miss watching the women in my family churn buttermilk. The fesh butter would be served as an accompaniment to several things (adai, neer dosa and so on). A couple of days later, the remaining butter would be converted to ghee to be used for delightfully unhealthy purposes like the making of sweet appams :D... yummmm

-w@w

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w@w - which buttermilk brand do you use here? You are on the west coast right?

[Monica Bhide]

same-to-same as worm@work

question:  what is the difference between US buttermilk

that you get in cartons, and Indian buttermilk?

Are there not two kinds of buttermilk in India:

1) leftover liquid after butter is churned and removed (=chaach)

2) sour and dilute yogurt (=lassi)

milagai

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The taste of the commerical american brand is not very different. Atleast in my humble opinion. I use it quite a bit with good results.

Vendor on commercial street -- now I am wondering who it is.. Gangarams?

[Monica Bhide]

mom makes mor koidhamba, spelling could be wrong. Like sambhar with buttermilk. Nice and tasty. She learned from neighbor from Karntka.

I bake a lot with buttermilk and use it for cakes too. Sometimes litte tang is nice.

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What baked dishes do you prepare with it that are Indian?

[gingerly]

pssst..Milagai,Monica-

Bhagatram Sweets Commercial Street  25588699   

[foodietraveler]

What baked dishes do you prepare with it that are Indian?

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bhaturas are deep fried, not baked. But they taste amazing made with buttermilk.

The few times I have made naan i have used buttermilk, when recipe wants yogurt. I like more sour. Naan is baked.

But cannot think of much else baked indian stuff... do you bake a lot of Indian stuff Monica?

And yes I make indian style cheesecake, hybrid, light in texture, and I add buttermilk or yogurt into creem cheese. And if you can call this Indian, that too is baked.

[Monica Bhide]

bhaturas are deep fried, not baked. But they taste amazing made with buttermilk.

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cool

[foodietraveler]

mom makes buttermilk lassi with vaghaar when she comes visits.

curry leafs, hing, mustard seeds, green chili and salt. Delicious and sometimes we eat this with steamed rice and pickle.

[Geetha]

I do like lassi's sweetened and otherwise salty too, but there is one good recipe I can hardly call it that too but it works fine.. for idlis only since I've been too satisfied with this combination I've never gone any bit further:

okay its dilute the regular butermilk a little bit kindof water runny.., then add salt to i, then the tadka of mustard urad dal and curry leaves, you'll be really surprised how well it goes with idli or idli uppama (oops not here right!) any way it is uppama made of idlies and pre-seasoned with tadka ofcourse of zeera,mustard and green chillies..

Edited September 8, 2004 by Geetha (log)

[foodietraveler]

I do like lassi's sweetened and otherwise salty too, but there is one good recipe I can hardly call it that too but it works fine.. for idlis only since I've been too satisfied with this combination I've never gone any bit further:

okay its dilute the regular butermilk a little bit kindof water runny.., then add salt to i, then the tadka of mustard urad dal and curry leaves, you'll be really surprised how well it goes with idli or idli uppama (oops not here right!)  any way it is uppama made of idlies   and pre-seasoned with tadka ofcourse of zeera,mustard and green chillies..

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Sounds amazing. I often make idli upma with leftover idli. But never used buttermilk. Thanks for sharing idea. I shall bless you as I use it this weekend. Have many Southern Indian recipes we will make from Suvir Sarans book Indian Home Cooking. GF wants to prepare a few rasam soups and wants to invite friends over. I am afraid rasam is too foreign for many people, indian as well, but she is in love with how they sound. I only make sambhar with dosa and idli but now we will try these recipe.

Your upma will be made this weekend. thank you.

[Monica Bhide]

I do like lassi's sweetened and otherwise salty too, but there is one good recipe I can hardly call it that too but it works fine.. for idlis only since I've been too satisfied with this combination I've never gone any bit further:

okay its dilute the regular butermilk a little bit kindof water runny.., then add salt to i, then the tadka of mustard urad dal and curry leaves, you'll be really surprised how well it goes with idli or idli uppama (oops not here right!)  any way it is uppama made of idlies   and pre-seasoned with tadka ofcourse of zeera,mustard and green chillies..

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Geetha - Love your ideas. I use buttermilk to prepare upma and love the texture it gives.

[Geetha]

I know that buttermilk here is different but it is also because it is industrially cultured since the culture must be different from home made ones as is ususlly the case the buttermilk or dilute curd is so different. Although this answer doesn't satisfy my interest either, since I'd be really happy to prepare my own culture.. I saw a feature on TV the other day telling about how the buttermilk culture is preserved and maintained to a high degree of quality they also adviced us not to prepare it at home sincethe rigorous monitoring wouldn't be possible .. well they had definitely fallen of deaf ears..

I still want to make it at home I know there s a definite satisfaction to it and also you will have less acidic one at home.

[Geetha]

oops not uppama, although it would be like then too no doubt buttermilk is a really versatile one there it fits almost all descriptions for an additive , but I meant I used it as a side or rather like a chutney to touch with my dry uppama it tastes delicious as a combination I don't know why it soes but it does. I call it fondly my curd chutney..

edit : okay I think no one mistook my answer you 're all right

Edited September 8, 2004 by Geetha (log)

[Monica Bhide]

oops not uppama, although it would be like then too no doubt buttermilk is a really versatile one there it fits almost all descriptions for an additive ,  but I meant I used it as a side or rather like a chutney to touch with my dry uppama it tastes delicious as a combination I don't know why it soes but it does. I call it fondly my curd chutney..

edit : okay I think no one mistook my answer you 're all right

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Geetha I use it to prepare upma.. if you try it let me know. Its quite good.

[foodietraveler]

oops not uppama, although it would be like then too no doubt buttermilk is a really versatile one there it fits almost all descriptions for an additive ,  but I meant I used it as a side or rather like a chutney to touch with my dry uppama it tastes delicious as a combination I don't know why it soes but it does. I call it fondly my curd chutney..

edit : okay I think no one mistook my answer you 're all right

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Geetha, I understood that you make idli upma, not the basic upma using buttermilk. And that you use it as chutney. sounds amazing.

it is common in our home to make upma with sooji using either buttermilk or khatta yogurt.

We add lots of coconut into idli upma, and sometimes even coconut milk, when we have it, but your idea of using buttermilk is very nice. thank you.

[foodietraveler]

I know that buttermilk here is different but it is also because it is industrially cultured since the culture must be different from home made ones as is ususlly the case the buttermilk or dilute curd is so different. Although this answer doesn't satisfy my interest either, since I'd be really happy to prepare my own culture.. I saw a feature on TV the other day telling about how the buttermilk culture is preserved and maintained to a high degree of quality they also adviced us not to prepare it at home sincethe rigorous monitoring wouldn't be possible .. well they had definitely fallen of deaf ears..

I still want to make  it at home I know there s a definite satisfaction to it and also you will have less acidic one at home.

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I miss indian buttermilk. i remember jaipur and all the chaas I had when we visit family there. the buttermilk is very different. so light and so sweet while being sour. I know what you mean. Now I crave it too.

[Geetha]

I thank Monica for bringingthis up, buttermilk is really so much of versatile ingredient I didn't so much as realize it 's use in upamma, now I know buttermilk has no limits.. ofcourse it is nice to have a cultured one of your own, I guess since we all are together for a while we might manage to start up a culture too, I guess a good lot of culture comes from a careful selection and ultimately is passed on to others..

rather difficult to duplicate home.

[worm@work]

I use it to make upma as well with rather good results. I do live on the west coast (shuttle between Seattle and LA). I've tried quite a few brands and somehow like the one from QFC (of all places) the best. I believe this is a local grocery store chain and this is the store label buttermilk I am talking about. I like it better for cooking purposes especially, because it doesnt come apart as easily on cooking. Some buttermilk brands tend to separate out into water and whey (?) even if heated at a low temperature (or maybe this is just my experience?). I also like the one from Wilcox farms (this is one of those non-RBST brands perhaps this one is local too). Now, for drinking purposes, i am ok with all of these and none of these at the same time :). On the one hand, being the avid buttermilk-consumer that I am, I consume what I can find. Despite my initial unhappiness, I am now reasonably ok with most of these brands. However I must admit that I have been meaning to start making buttermilk at home by getting some culture from someone else who does the same. Just havent gotten around to it yet :(. As for the curd chutney you describe Geetha, I do this too :). In fact, this was my favorite accompaniment to dosas and upma ever since I was a kid. In my house, this was quite a common accompaniment (whenever my mom felt too lazy to make coconut chutney :p) and was called "moru (buttermilk) milagai" :). I still tend to use this as my chutney when I make dosas at home causing all my friends to wonder why I would prefer something so crude over chutney and sambhar but old habits die hard, dont they?

-w@w

Edited September 9, 2004 by worm@work (log)

[Monica Bhide]

I still want to make  it at home I know there s a definite satisfaction to it and also you will have less acidic one at home.

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If you make it at home.. be sure to post the procedure and results here!