Peanut cashew curd

In a small vessel mix together 1/2t idli batter, 1/2t sugar/ jagger powder, 1T water.

Set it aside for 2 hours without touching so that sediments will settle.

Once the sediment settles, use the water on top as your vegan curd starter.

Bring 1/2c water to boil.

In a small vessel, place 1/8c cashews and pour the boiling water in.

Cover with a lid and let the cashews soak for atleast 8-10 hours (overnight). I soak mine for 12 hours.

The following day or after required soaking time, discard the water.

Rinse the cashews once nicely and place it in a mixer jar.

Add 1/8c water and grind till smooth (make sure not to pour all the water since you will be left with small solid particles instead of a smooth puree).

Add the remaining 1/8c water and pulse.

Transfer to a bowl/ cup. Cashew milk is ready.

In a small vessel that can be heated on a stove top, add in 1/4c peanuts, 1/2c water, 1/8t vinegar/ lemon juice.

Bring the mixture to a boil. Once it starts to boil, let it continue boiling for 4-5 minutes (without any lid).

Turn off the heat. Remove from the stove top and cover with a lid.

Keep this aside overnight for soaking (the longer it soaks, the creamier it gets while grinding. I usually soak mine 12 hours).

Following morning (or after required soaking hours), discard the water in which the peanuts were soaked and wash/ rinse the peanuts with fresh water twice or thrice.

Place the peanuts in a mixer jar and add 1/4c water.

Blend/ grind till you have a smooth creamy mixture.

Add the remaining 3/4c water little by little (I add 1/4c at a time) and blend.

Finally use a muslin cloth/ nut milk strainer and strain the milk. Ensure you do a clean straining without any solid particles in the milk.

Your peanut milk is ready.

Mix the peanut milk & cashew milk in a vessel that can be heated on stove top.

Heat in the smallest of the stove top and keep it in normal/ high flame.

Keep stirring with a spoon and gently bring the milk to a boil.

As soon as the milk starts to froth up on the sides, turn the heat to the lowest possible option (while continuously stirring) and let it boil for 2-3 minutes.

Turn off the heat and leave it uncovered.

Once the milk reaches a lukewarm consistency (very similar to dairy curd setting process), add 1T starter (if you have previously set curd, use 1T from that).

If you don't have a curd starter, use 1T of liquid starter (mentioned above) and 2-3 crowns of dried chilli along with 1 dried chilli in itself.

Mix well. Place the bowl in a warm place (I keep mine in a hotpack) and set it aside.

Make sure you don't keep touching it/ moving it/ stirring it. Just let it be for 12-14 hours (It takes up to 24 hours to set the first time around). Check after that.

Peanut cashew curd should be ready by this time.

If its the first time this curd is being done using a non curd starter, then your curd won't be thick but it will be thicker than when you left the milk to curdle and will look slightly grainy. This is the right texture.

Discard the red chilli & the crown. Use it wherever you would typically use your dairy curd.

A few things to keep in mind is that the repeated setting of curd using the previous batch's curd starter will yield nice and thick curd. This one in pic is the 2nd time I made curd and wanted to document it before I forget.

The subsequent batches yielded nice and thick curd (which I did not take pics of).