Curd + treacle = yowza!

This was one of my favouritest things I ate in Sri Lanka. Its a typical dessert that needs no cooking. Seriously? Hell yeah! 

As usual though, I was a little slow on the uptake. I found out that I am not as adventurous when it came to trying new food combinations as I thought I was. 

When I first heard of this dessert — buffalo curd and treacle — I was aghast. Curd and treacle? Seriously? No thank you. 

I was in Sri Lanka for eight days and I turned my short, umbrella-shaped nose at this dessert. 

I wasn't until three days before we were set to leave the beautiful country that I was persuaded to try the dessert. Hasantha, our guide/driver, ordered a rather sizable portion and offered us some to try. 

Not wanting to appear rude, I agreed to try a teaspoon. Just a teaspoon, I said, giving Hasatha the excuse that I was stuffed from dinner.

I was so wrong. The sourish flavour of the yoghurt contrasts so well with the sweetness of the palm sugar. The soft silky texture of the curd, with the thick, stickiness of the treacle? It's like day and night: two halves of a whole. 

Whaaaat? 

Curd and treacle is now my absolute favouritest dessert, not just in Sri Lanka but possibly of all time. Made with buffalo milk (and, says Hasantha, Buffalo milk ONLY), the Sri Lankan curd is thick, reach and creamy. And the Sri Lanka treacle (kithul Pani) is a thick, full-bodied syrup made from the sap of the Kithul palm. The Sri Lankans believe that treacle used to be the food of their kings past and the high quality and esteem of the country's treacle even now is a sign of blessing from the old kings.

Legendary! How cool.

So, what did I do? Bought myself a bottle of treacle of course! Hasantha advised me against buying "just any bottle" that I may come across. Some producers mix the treacle with brown sugar syrup to darken the colour and sweeten the taste. 

"Buy the good quality one. Organic is good," said Hasantha. 

I bought organic. Very good. Wish I'd bought three bottles. I am already well into my only bottle and I've been back from Sri Lanka barely a week.

As I said, there is no recipe just some (hopefully) helpful suggestions. 

First: Use top quality yoghurt. Greek yoghurt is good: nice and creamy. Or, buy regular yoghurt and strain it in cheesecloth till all the whey drips out.

Eat when cold. Yoghurt cold, treacle at room temperature that is. 

If you can't get your hands on treacle (I've seen it once or twice here), use palm sugar syrup (gula Melaka). It's not the same but its close. 

Thermodynamics rocks

Wanna make homemade frozen yoghurt but you don't have a ice cream machine? No problem, just turn to science!

Would you believe that making a batch of frozen yoghurt (or ice cream if you like) is faster if you do it by hand, the old fashioned way, than with an ice cream maker? Seriously!

Ice and salt. That's your Ice cream maker right there! Here's how it works:

When you use ice to cool the ingredients for ice cream, the energy is absorbed from the ingredients and from the outside environment. By adding salt to the ice, it lowers the freezing point of the ice, so even more energy has to be absorbed from the environment in order for the ice to melt. This makes the ice colder and that is how your ice cream freezes. Using rock salt is better as it takes longer to dissolve in the water, allowing more time for your yoghurt to freeze. Read more about this HERE.

I could not believe how easy it was. I had to try it.

First, you have to use greek yoghurt simply because it's nice and thick and rich. It costs a bomb: about RM14 to 18 a small tub. What? Well, make some yourself. How? Pour a tub of regular yoghurt (about RM4 for 150g) onto a cheese cloth; wrap it into a ball and allow to drip, in the fridge (you need a tall container to collect the whey) for about 6 hours.

Done? Unwrap the cheese cloth and you will see a wonderful smooth ball of rich yoghurt. Oh my. The texture is slightly cheesy and the consistency is thick. Oh my.

Next. Mix sugar or honey or as I did, maple syrup to the yoghurt: to your taste. And, if you like, vanilla extract (just a drop).

Transfer the yoghurt into a ziploc bag and seal tight. Put the bag in another ziploc bag and seal tight.

Put enough ice to fill a huge saucepan. Cover the ice with salt (about 1/2 cup). Place the bag of bagged yoghurt in the ice (surround it with salted ice as much as possible) and cover the container. Shake, shake and shake so the yoghurt is kneaded by the ice. Shake for about 10 mins and leave the yoghurt to sit in the ice a further 15 mins or so. More if you like it really frozen solid. I liked mine frozen but not hard (kinda like how I like my martinis shaken, and not stirred) so I didn't let it sit longer. NOTE: It took me some time to get this shot -- I shot it outdoors under the morning sun so the yoghurt melted a wee bit :)

REMEMBER your zip lock bag has to be really sealed tight so the salt does not seap through.

Is that it? You betcha. Scoop out your yoghurt and eat it immediately. You will, like me, probably wanna lick the zip lock bag ... not one bit should be wasted! Only hitch is you can't make a huge batch at one go. Unless you have gallon-sized zipper bags and a huge stock pot. You can make enough for a party of four or five. Or four or five servings just for you :)

Isn't science just delicious?

Veggie Chick