Recipes with natural yogurt and tricks to obtain delicious dishes with it

Slightly acidic, soft, rich in ferments that favor the intestinal flora, easy to digest and low in caloriesToday, yogurt is one of the most popular and consumed foods. Although it is usually taken as is or mixed with fruit or cereals, this product can also be used to prepare dishes and in this article we propose some delicious recipes with natural yogurt.

Yogurt is generally made from cow’s or goat’s milk, but also sheep’s and buffalo’s. However, vegetarians, vegans or people with an intolerance to cow protein can opt for vegetable yogurt. The only thing we must take into account when using vegetable yogurt is that we must opt ​​for yogurts without sugar or without flavors and that it is better to opt for Greek-type vegetable yogurts, which are creamier.

Cooking with yogurt: the chef’s tricks

It is easy to eat and to use as an ingredient in all kinds of recipes, but yogurt also has secrets that should be known

Serum. Yogurt improves its flavor if it is stirred well with a spoon. It is not convenient to discard your whey unless the recipe requires removing it to achieve greater thickness. This whey has some protein.How to sweeten it In desserts, it can be eaten without sugar but also sweetened with honey, cereal molasses, concentrated apple juice, cane sugar, jam, raisins, dates… or mixed with cubes of natural fruit such as strawberries or peach.Greek. Greek yogurt, thicker because cream is added to the fermented milk, it is ideal for preparing sauces because it is more consistent.Sauces and creams. It can replace milk cream in many recipes for sauces or creams, which considerably lowers the caloric intake of the dish. It is added at the end of cooking and, in the case of cold creams, when crushing them cold. You can also substitute cream.stews. To prepare stews, yogurt is added at the end and, if it is convenient to give it a little thickness, it is bound with corn semolina. Thus, delicious stews and vegetable ragús are obtained. Anyway, yogurt loses part of its benefits when heated: the temperature deactivates its microorganisms.

Recipes with delicious and easy natural yogurt

Yogurt is suitable for all kinds of people and adapts to very varied preparations, such as the following.

Spicy vegetable ragu with yoghurt

Ingredients for 4 people):

Preparation (15′ + 20′ cooking):

Wash and cut the vegetables: the peppers, into strips; the leek, in slices: the zucchini, in half moons, and the mushrooms, in quarters, without their stems.In a saucepan, heat the oil, add the dry chillies, the cumin and the chopped garlic and immediately the leek, the peppers, zucchini and mushrooms, in this order, leaving a minute between each vegetable. Let everything cook for about 5 more minutes and season with the curry, salt and pepper. Add the yogurt with its whey and stir carefully. Cover and continue cooking for 8 more minutes over low heat. After this time, add the chopped coriander and decorate with a sprig of this herb.

Variant:

You can also add fresh chilli or any hot pepper.

Nutritional information:

Calories: 145 Carbohydrates: 5 g Protein: 5 g Fat: 11 g Cholesterol: 3 mg

Couscous pilaf with yogurt

Ingredients for 4 people):

1 cup of whole grain couscous (250 g) 30 g of pine nuts 30 g of raisins 150 g of pumpkin 3 cloves of garlic 1 natural yogurt a few mint leaves 30 ml of olive oil salt

Preparation (10′ + 6′ cooking):

Heat the oil over low heat in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the sliced ​​garlic, pine nuts and raisins. Brown everything, taking care not to burn them. Peel the pumpkin, cut it into cubes and add it to the casserole. If it starts to burn or dry out, add a little water. While you prepare the pumpkin, bring a cup and a half of water to a boil with a little salt. When it reaches a boil, add the yogurt. Once the pumpkin has cooked slightly, add the couscous and stir well. When the water with yoghurt has boiled again, pour it into the casserole as well, over the couscous. Turn off the heat and leave covered for about 5 minutes. After this time, uncover, stir with two forks to loosen the grain and serve decorated with mint.

Nutritional information:

Calories: 370 Carbohydrates: 53 g Protein: 9 g Fat: 13 g Cholesterol: 3 mg.

Chickpea and aubergine salad with yogurt

Ingredients for 4 people):

Preparation (15′ + 6′ cooking):

Dice the aubergines, unpeeled, and lightly salt. Let sit in a colander for about 15 minutes so they don’t sting. Meanwhile, toast the sunflower seeds on a flat pan for 1 minute, stirring constantly so they don’t burn. Once the heat is off, continue stirring for another minute before removing them from the pan. Crush the half bunch of coriander with about 40 ml of oil and set aside. Wash the orange and cut its skin into very thin strips. Extract and strain the juice. On the other hand, wash and cut the cherry tomatoes in half. In a bowl, mix half the orange juice with the cumin powder, the chopped parsley, a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper. Add a tablespoon of the coriander oil prepared earlier. Then gradually add the natural yogurts, beating them to emulsify them a bit. Once the yogurt sauce is made, let it cool in the fridge. Prepare a saucepan with 150 ml of water, the rest of the orange juice, a little salt and the aubergine cubes. Bring everything to a boil for about 5 minutes. Next, add the orange peels, let it boil for another minute and let it cool without straining until it is time to prepare the salad. Mix the chickpeas with the strained aubergines and the orange peel strips. Add the halved cherry tomatoes, the sunflower seeds, a little cumin powder, a tablespoon of coriander oil and the yogurt sauce. Mix well, let cool and decorate with a thread of coriander oil and a little chilli powder or paprika.

Variant:

You can add chopped garlic, mint, onion to the salad… Other appropriate ingredients are avocado, black beans or mask beans.

Nutritional information:

Calories: 336 Carbohydrates: 32 g Protein: 13 g Fat: 18 g Cholesterol: 6 mg

cold yogurt cacik

Ingredients for 4 people):

4 medium cucumbers or 2 Dutch cucumbers 150 g fennel bulb 1 hard red tomato (or 2 small ones) 3 natural yoghurts 1 clove of garlic 3 sprigs of fresh mint 3 sprigs of fresh fennel 1 teaspoon of dried mint 40 ml of olive oil salt

Preparation (15′):

Wash the cucumbers, open them in half lengthwise and remove the seeds, which are what make the cucumber repeat. Then cut into small cubes, sprinkle with salt and let drain for about 15 minutes in a colander. Peel and dice the tomato. Let it drain for a few minutes so that it loses part of its water. Cut the fennel bulb into cubes. Chop the garlic clove, mix with the dry mint, the yogurt, a pinch of salt and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. If it is too thick you can rinse with a splash of water. Finely chop the fresh herbs and mix with the cucumber, fennel, tomato and yogurt sauce. Let the cacik cool in the fridge and then serve in glasses decorated with some fresh mint leaves or fennel.

Variant:

You can also add spring onion or even fresh chilli to this recipe.

Nutritional information:

Calories: 164 Carbohydrates: 8 g Protein: 4 g Fat: 13 g Cholesterol: 8 mg.

Yogurt flan with honey caramel and walnuts

Ingredients for 6 people):

1 liter of natural yoghurt or 8 yoghurts 8 tablespoons of honey 14 sheets of gelatin 3 lemons (their skin and juice) 80 g of walnuts

Preparation (15′ + 4′ of cooking + 2 hours of rest in the fridge):

Soak the gelatin in cold water until it softens. Meanwhile, peel the three lemons, grate the skin and mix with the yogurt. Beat everything until you get a fine and homogeneous texture. Reserve the lemons without the skin and then extract the juice from them. Bring 100 ml of water to the heat with about six tablespoons of honey. When it boils add the gelatin. Turn off the heat and stir well until dissolved. Let it rest for a couple of minutes and pour, stirring constantly, over the yogurt. Spread the yogurt with lemon and gelatin into molds or custard cups and let cool in the fridge until set, for approximately two hours. Meanwhile, heat up the rest of the honey with the lemon juice and when it thickens a bit add the chopped walnuts. Stir well, remove from heat and let cool. Serve the curd yogurt flan with the honey and walnut caramel on top.

Variant:

Instead of lemons, you can use oranges.

You can also substitute honey for any type of sugar, concentrated apple juice or cereal molasses.

Nutritional information:

Calories: 271 Carbohydrates: 27 g Protein: 8 g Fat: 14 g Cholesterol: 18 mg.