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EveryCow

Curd and fermented milk

Mishti doi

Bengal's sweet curd: reduced milk, caramelised sugar or jaggery, set firm in unglazed clay pots.

Mishti doi, sweet curd, is milk boiled down, sweetened with sugar or jaggery and set as curd in clay pots. The sugar is often lightly caramelised, giving a soft brown colour. The clay draws away water, so the curd sets thick enough to turn upside down. It ends meals, weddings and festivals in West Bengal and Bangladesh.

What goes in

Whole milk: 63%63%Sugar or date-palm jaggery: 19%19%Curd starter: 6%Clay pots: 13%13%4parts
  • Whole milk1063%, Reduced by about a third.
  • Sugar or date-palm jaggery319%, Part caramelised for colour.
  • Curd starter16%, From the last batch.
  • Clay pots213%, Draw off water for a firm set.

Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each input's share of the product.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house and herd to herd; this is one traditional way, in outline.

  1. Step 1: Boil Boil the milk and simmer it until reduced and slightly thick.
  2. Step 2: Cook Caramelise part of the sugar and stir it with the rest into the milk.
  3. Step 3: Ferment Cool to warm and stir in the curd starter.
  4. Step 4: Set Pour into clay pots and leave in a warm place for several hours to set.
  5. Step 5: Serve Chill and serve in the pot.
  6. Whole milk: 63%63%Sugar or date-palm jaggery: 19%19%Curd starter: 6%Clay pots: 13%13%
    Finished Mishti doi, by share.

Bogra and Bengal

Bogra, in northern Bangladesh, is especially known for its doi, and sweet shops across Bengal advertise their own. In winter, many use nolen gur, the new date-palm jaggery, which gives a deeper flavour and colour. The pots, called bhaar or khuri, are made by local potters and thrown away after use.

At every occasion

No Bengali wedding feast is complete without it, and it is part of the tattva, the gifts carried between the families before a wedding. Mishti doi is offered in pujas and eaten on Pohela Boishakh, the Bengali new year. It is often bought from the sweet shop in the evening and set on the table cold.

Where it is used

End of a mealWedding feastPuja offering

The breeds behind it

Red ChittagongNative triple-purpose breed of Bangladesh.Holstein FriesianFriesian crosses supply much of Bengal's dairy milk.

Also part of it, and being written: Jersey cattle (Jersey crosses are widely kept in eastern India.).

More on EveryCow

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Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryCow desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and dairy makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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