Yogurt in Indian Cooking: Uses, Benefits, and Traditional Recipes

When you think of Indian food, you might picture spicy curries or fragrant rice—but yogurt, a fermented dairy product known locally as dahi or curd. Also known as curd, it’s the quiet hero behind countless dishes, balancing heat, tenderizing meat, and adding creaminess without heavy cream. In Indian kitchens, yogurt isn’t just a side—it’s a cooking tool, a preservative, and a probiotic powerhouse rolled into one.

Every household in India keeps a jar of dahi, the thick, tangy yogurt made by fermenting milk with natural cultures. It’s the base for raita, the secret to tender tandoori chicken, and the cooling counterpoint to spicy chutneys. You’ll find it in breakfasts like kadhi, in marinades for kebabs, and even in sweets like shrikhand. Unlike Western yogurt, Indian dahi is rarely sweetened—it’s meant to be savory, rich, and slightly sour, with a texture that clings to spoons. It’s made daily in homes, often from buffalo or cow’s milk, and left to ferment in clay pots for that authentic earthy flavor.

What makes yogurt so central? It’s not just taste. curd, a natural tenderizer and emulsifier. Also known as dahi, it breaks down proteins in meat and lentils, making them softer and easier to digest. That’s why chicken curry with yogurt tastes deeper than one with cream—it’s not just fat, it’s fermentation at work. Plus, it’s gut-friendly. In a country where spicy food is daily fare, yogurt is the gentle reset button for digestion. No wonder it’s served after every big meal.

You won’t find many Indian recipes that don’t use yogurt in some form. It’s in the cooling raita beside biryani, in the batter for crispy dosas, and even in the dough for soft parathas. It replaces milk in gravies to cut acidity, thickens sauces without flour, and adds body to drinks like mattha and lassi. Even in desserts, it’s the base for chilled sweets that balance sugar with tang.

What you’ll find in the posts below is real, tested use of yogurt—not theory, not imported trends. It’s how Indian home cooks actually use dahi every day: to make paneer from scratch, to save a curdled curry, to turn leftover rice into a breakfast bowl, or to make a simple yogurt-based pickle that lasts weeks. These aren’t fancy restaurant tricks. They’re the quiet, everyday wisdom passed down in kitchens across India.