Super Easy Coconut Yoghurt

I love coconut yoghurt.  Natural CoYo would have to be my favourite, but at $13 per 500g tub it was a luxury that I saved for moments of indulgence.  I regularly make normal yoghurt but had been putting off making coconut yoghurt as every recipe I looked at seemed so complicated, no guarantee of success and expensive ingredients.  Until I stumbled across this easy recipe, scrawled in my recipe book from months ago, and decided to convert it to a thermomix method and give it a go (traditional recipe included as well). 

Why I never tried this earlier I have no idea! It was delicious – a nice tang of yoghurt combined with the creaminess of the coconut.  Mine had a beautiful thick yoghurt consistency.

I used a food dehydrator to get a nice constant temperature during fermentation however an Easi-Yo yoghurt maker (a thermos that you fill with boiling water) would achieve similar results.

Super Easy Coconut Yoghurt

Ingredients

3x 270ml cans of Ayam Coconut Milk (room temp) 2 tsp probiotic powder (I used Inner Health Plus) or 1/4 cup coconut yoghurt (reserved from previous batch) 2 tsp gelatin 2 tbs maple syrup or rapadura sugar

Really clean (preferably sterilised) jars enough to hold approx 900ml yoghurt

TM Method

Dissolve the gelatin in 1/4 cup of coconut milk.  Set aside.

Place the remaining coconut milk into the TM bowl and heat for approximately 3 minutes at 90 degrees, spd 2. 

Once temperature has been reached, add the reserved gelatin mixture and sugar. 

Mix 20 secs, spd 2 until combined. 

Take TM bowl out of the unit and rest on the bench to allow to cool.

When mixture has cooled to approximately 40 degrees (you can check this by putting the TM bowl back into the unit and checking the temperature), add the probiotic powder or coconut yoghurt starter.  Mix 20 sec, spd 2 until combined.

Pour the yoghurt into clean jars, lids on and pop into the dehydrator at 40 degrees for 18-24 hours.

When the coconut yoghurt is finished it will taste like yoghurt and be a little bit thick but will thicken up properly once chilled in the fridge.

Stored in the fridge your yoghurt should last about 2 weeks.

Traditional Method:

Dissolve the gelatin in 1/4 cup of coconut milk.  Set aside.

Place the remaining coconut milk into a saucepan on the stove and heat over low temperature until hot but not boiling.

Remove from heat and add reserved gelatin mixture and sugar.  Allow to cool until approx 40 degrees.

Add the probiotic powder or coconut yoghurt starter.  Stir gently.

Pour the yoghurt into clean jars, lids on and pop into the dehydrator at 40 degrees for 18-24 hours.

When the coconut yoghurt is finished it will taste like yoghurt and be a little bit thick but will thicken up properly once chilled in the fridge.

Stored in the fridge your yoghurt should last about 2 weeks.

Easi-Yo Method:

Follow recipe as above except only fill your Easi-Yo thermos container, to the level of the red internal baffle.  You don’t want the boiling water to encase the plastic yoghurt container otherwise the water will overheat the mixture and kill off the fermenting bacteria (ours will be warm going into the container as opposed to the manufacturer’s recipe which uses cold milk that needs heating in the thermos).

Note – my yoghurt did separate out into two layers… thick and delicious coconut yoghurt with a small less than 5mm clear coloured layer on the bottom that tastes just like a tangy coconut water jelly!