AI-generated image
Sữa chua (Vietnamese set yogurt)
Little cups of creamy home-made yogurt set with condensed milk, eaten chilled or frozen
In Vietnamese homes, sữa chua is made in a row of small jars and kept in the fridge or freezer, and children in Hanoi and Saigon eat it after school straight from the cup, sometimes frozen hard like ice cream. The condensed milk gives it a mild caramel sweetness and a smooth, firm set that is less sharp than plain yogurt. It is sweetened, so this version uses less condensed milk than the street-stall kind. It contains milk. Chef's tip: keep the milk at blood heat, about 43 °C; hotter kills the yogurt culture and cooler sets slowly and sour.
- Total time
- 25 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
- 3 ¼ cups whole milk
- 5 ½ oz sweetened condensed milkabout half a tin
- 3 ½ oz plain live yogurtat room temperature, as the starter
Shop this recipe on Amazon
Fresh ingredients (3)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Warm 3 ¼ cups whole milk in a pan over a medium-low heat, stirring, until it steams and small bubbles form at the edge, about 185°F. Take it off the heat.
8 minStep 2: Stir in 5 ½ oz sweetened condensed milk until dissolved, then let the milk cool to about 109°F: warm on your wrist but not hot. This takes about 20 minutes.
20 minStep 3: Whisk 3 ½ oz plain live yogurt in a bowl with a ladle of the warm milk until smooth, then stir it back into the pan. Don't whisk hard after this, or the yogurt sets with bubbles.
Step 4: Pour into 8 clean small jars or cups and cover. Set them in a deep tray, pour in warm water (about 113°F) to halfway up, cover the tray with a towel and leave in a warm spot such as a switched-off oven with the light on for 6–8 hours.
10 minStep 5: Check one: it is ready when it has set like soft custard and pulls away cleanly from the side when tilted. The common mistake is moving the cups while they set, which breaks the curd and makes it runny.
Step 6: Chill for at least 4 hours. Keep in the fridge for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to a month and let it soften for 10 minutes before eating. Save one cup as the starter for the next batch.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 140 kcal
- Protein
- 5 g
- Carbs
- 19 g
- Fat
- 5 g
- Fibre
- 0 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does sữa chua (Vietnamese set yogurt) take?
- About 25 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of whole milk?
- Semi-skimmed milk with 1 tbsp cream per 240ml (1 cup).
- What can I use instead of sweetened condensed milk?
- Oat, soy or almond milk, same amount (use unsweetened for savoury dishes).
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Caramelised clay-pot tofu and mushroomsBraised tofu and mushrooms
Kho is the slow braise of the Mekong Delta: food simmered in a little clay pot (nồi đất) with dark caramel and seasoning until the sauce is sticky and the flavours go deep. This vegetarian cousin of cá kho tộ (braised fish) uses golden tofu and meaty mushrooms in place of fish, cooked in coconut water, as cooks do in the south, and finished with plenty of black pepper. Serve it bubbling in its pot with steamed rice and a sour soup or plain boiled vegetables. Chef's tip: take the caramel (nước màu) to a deep mahogany, darker than you think, just before it smokes; pale caramel only tastes sweet, while dark caramel gives the bittersweet, smoky flavour of a real kho.
Kartoshka cakeCocoa and cake crumb truffles
Soviet cafés and school canteens sold these knobbly brown 'potatoes' for a few kopecks, and they began as a thrifty way to use up sponge and biscuit trimmings at the bakery. Crumbs are bound with butter and sweetened condensed milk, flavoured with cocoa and vanilla, shaped into little potatoes, rolled in cocoa and finished with two dabs of pale butter cream for the sprouts. They are fudgy and dense like a brownie truffle, need no oven, and children love making them. Traditional bakers added a spoonful of rum, an optional extra for adult batches only; this version is alcohol-free with vanilla. The usual slip is coarse crumbs, which make the potatoes crack, so blitz them as fine as sand. Chef's tip: chill the shaped potatoes for at least 20 minutes so they hold their shape and slice cleanly.
Russian
Undu walaluFried urad dal rings in treacle
Walalu means bangles, and these dark, sticky rings of fried urad dal soaked in kithul treacle are a sweet that Sinhala families bring out for Avurudu and for special almsgivings, often made in large batches by an aunt known for her steady hand. A thick, fluffy paste of ground black gram is piped into loops and fried until crisp, then plunged straight into warm treacle, so the rings stay crunchy on the outside while drinking up the syrup. They taste a little like a darker, smokier jalebi, with a toffee finish from the palm treacle. Watery batter is what ruins them; it spreads into flat blobs, so grind the soaked dal with as little water as possible and beat it until light. This recipe uses no asafoetida, so it is naturally gluten free. Chef's tip: pipe the rings onto small squares of baking paper and lower them into the oil paper and all; the paper peels away in seconds.
Sri Lankan