My first attempt on making coconut yoghurt was a major fail. It did not thicken or get the "fresh" yoghurt-like taste the probiotics develop. It was coconut milk with sugar and a weird smell to it.
Being very discouraged, I never tried making it again (and totally forgot about it, too) until a few days ago.
I recently moved out from home (*insert crying emoji*) to Germany's vegan capital: Berlin. I'm sharing my apartment with 3 others: one fellow vegan, one paleo-vegan (who eats eggs) and a vegetarian. You see, a lot is going on in our kitchen!
One night, I talked to my flatmate and he mentioned he wanted to try making coconut yogurt. The former disaster shortly crossed my mind but after a quarter of a second I was all in.
He had already gotten the probiotics and I brought arrowroot starch with me (along with a million of other things you use once a year to make fancy schmancy stuff but hey - thanks to my food messieness we had a starch to work with) when I moved in.
Long story cut short, we ended up making coconut yogurt that very evening. I searched the Internet for the best recipe but ended up using non of them, but combining the knowledge I received during my search.
I did not use agar agar flakes like recommended in most recipes because of food intolerances against that product.
Do not expect to make this "super quick", it'll take some time cooking, cooling, resting and cooling again until you can finally try your product. But it's honestly SO GOOD.
Health Benefits
Apart from being super yummy, coconut yogurt has some amazing health benefits as well. Starting with the fact that (almost) everybody is able to tolerate it (if you're not allergic to coconuts, and if you are, I'm very very sorry for you!). It is soy free, dairy free, vegan, low fructose, low histamine, gluten free, oil free, amazing, amazing amazing, ...
Plus, it contains probiotics. And what the heck is that?! I found a good article about them here.
Here is how I (we, partly) made it!
HOMEMADE COCONUT YOGURT
makes about 1-1.2 litersIngredients
- 1 l full fat coconut milk (we got ours in the asian supermarket in a tetra-pack)
- 2 1/2 tbsp arrowroot starch (you could also use tapioca starch, found in asian supermarkets)
- 1 pack probiotics (the ones we used were meant for "normal" yogurt)
- 2 tbsp organic brown sugar
Method
- It is recommended to use VERY clean glass jars for this recipe. To free them of all bacteria, pour boiling water in the jars and lids. Let sit for about 2 minutes and pour the water out (be careful!).
- Heat up the coconut milk in a large pot. Once it's cooking, add in the starch, whisking FAST. Let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes. You'll notice the milk will get thicker.
- Remove from heat and let cool, stirring frequently. Once it's cold enough to be touched with your fingers. Whisk in your probiotics.
- Add 2 tbsp of sugar and mix until combined.
- Pour the mixture into your jars, put the lid on and place it somewhere warm (I stored it next to the heating but you can also use your oven at 100F or 34°C). Let your yoghurt rest for about 12-24 hours without opening the jars.
- After the resting time is over (for me it was about 23 hours), transfer the jars into your fridge and wait for another 8 hours until the yogurt has cooled and set (it'll thicken up!).
- Take it out, stir and dig in!
