Amasi substitute

Best substitute

Plain full-fat yogurt, thinned with milk

Use ¾ cup yogurt plus ¼ cup milk for every cup of amasi

Best for eating with pap or phutu

Close match

Plain full-fat yogurt thinned with a little milk is the closest everyday swap, used 1:1, and it is what most cooks outside South Africa end up using. Cultured buttermilk is even better if amasi is being poured, because it matches the thin-and-sour side of amasi almost exactly. Kefir works too and brings a similar fermented depth. If you are eating it with pap, whisk a spoonful of sour cream into plain yogurt to get the richness back.

Other amasi substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Cultured buttermilk
Different texture
Use the same amount by volume
Thin, pourable cultured milk with acidity in the same range as amasi.
What changes
Best for
pouring over pap, baking, especially rusks and soda-leavened breads, marinades, chilled soups
Excellent when amasi is playing its liquid role. It has the same lactic sourness and a similar faint saltiness, and in any recipe leavened with baking soda it behaves identically, which is the part that actually matters for a rusk or a mealie bread. It is thinner than a good thick maas, so on a plate it runs rather than sits. Whisk in a tablespoon of yogurt or sour cream per cup if you want body.
3Kefir
Different texture
Use the same amount by volume
Fermented milk cultured with mixed bacteria and yeasts, sour and pourable with a faint fizz.
What changes
Best for
drinking, pouring over porridge, baking, marinades
Closest of all the widely available options on fermented complexity, because like amasi it is made by a mixed community of organisms rather than a two-strain starter, so it tastes layered rather than simply sour. It is thinner than thick amasi and it has a yeasty, faintly bready aroma amasi does not, plus a slight prickle on the tongue. Very good with pap, slightly odd in a dessert.
4Sour cream loosened with milk
Different taste
Use ½ cup sour cream plus ½ cup milk for every cup of amasi
Cultured cream diluted back down to a pourable soured milk.
What changes
Best for
eating with pap when you want it rich, cold sauces, dips, spooning over grilled meat
Smooth, tangy and considerably richer than amasi, which is made from whole or reduced-fat milk rather than cream. A bowl of pap with this feels indulgent rather than everyday, and the mouth-coating fat blunts the sharp finish amasi has. Add a squeeze of lemon to bring the acidity back up.
5Milk soured with lemon juice or white vinegar
Taste and texture differ
1 cup milk plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar, rested 10 minutes
The emergency stand-in, which delivers acidity and nothing else.
What changes
Best for
rusks and soda-leavened baking, mealie bread, batters, pancakes
Fine in baking, poor to eat. The acid does exactly what amasi's acid was doing, so a batch of buttermilk rusks rises the same and tastes almost the same. What is missing is the fermented flavour and the thickness, so it will look thin and taste flatly sour rather than cultured. Do not pour this over pap and expect anyone to be pleased.
6Plain yogurt cultured a little longer, or yogurt plus whey
Close match
Use the same amount with 2 tablespoons of yogurt whey stirred back in per cup
A closer remake, using the thin whey that pools on top of a yogurt tub to mimic amasi's naturally separated look and sharper edge.
What changes
Best for
eating with pap, serving as a side, any dish where amasi's split curd-and-whey character is expected
This is the small trick worth knowing. Real amasi separates into thick curd and watery sour whey, and the whey is part of the eating experience. Rather than pouring the whey off your yogurt, stir it back in and add a squeeze of lemon; the result looks and tastes noticeably more like maas than smooth uniform yogurt does.

What is Amasi?

Amasi is Amasi, sold in South Africa as maas and known as amasi sour milk, is naturally fermented milk that has thickened and soured into a tart, slightly grainy cultured milk, traditionally soured in a calabash gourd until the thick curd separates from a thin sour whey.

Cooking tips

With pap and amasi, temperature does half the work. The pap should be hot and the soured milk should be fridge cold, and the contrast is most of the pleasure, so chill whatever substitute you use properly before serving.
Amasi is sourer than most supermarket yogurt. If your substitute tastes too mild next to what you remember, a teaspoon of lemon juice per cup sharpens it without making it taste of lemon, and letting plain yogurt sit at cool room temperature for an hour or two also deepens the tang.
Do not boil these substitutes. Amasi, yogurt, buttermilk and kefir all break into curds and grainy whey over direct heat, so add them at the end, off the burner, and serve immediately.
In South African baking, amasi is doing two jobs: it is the liquid and it is the acid that reacts with bicarbonate of soda. Any cultured milk swap covers both. If you use plain sweet milk instead, replace the bicarbonate with the same amount of baking powder so there is still something to make it rise.
Traditional amasi is soured in a calabash at ambient temperature with the wild cultures already living in the gourd. Recreating that at home is not the same as leaving a carton of milk out. If you want to culture your own, start with pasteurised milk and a live starter such as a few tablespoons of cultured buttermilk or existing amasi, keep everything clean, and refrigerate once it has set. Milk that has simply gone off in the fridge is spoiled, not fermented, and should be thrown away.

Frequently asked questions

Is amasi the same thing as maas?

Yes. Amasi is the isiZulu and isiXhosa name and maas is the Afrikaans one, and the cartons sold in South African supermarkets under either name are the same product: cultured soured milk. The commercial version is made with a controlled starter, so it tastes cleaner and more consistent than amasi soured traditionally in a gourd, which is sharper and more complex.

Can I use Greek yogurt instead of amasi?

You can, but you must thin it. Greek yogurt is strained, so it is far thicker than amasi and will sit on top of your pap in a solid lump rather than running into it. Whisk in a quarter to a third cup of milk per cup of yogurt until it pours, and add a squeeze of lemon juice because Greek yogurt is usually milder than amasi.

Can I just leave amasi out?

If it is the accompaniment, then no, because it is half the dish; pap on its own is plain maize porridge. If it is an ingredient in baking, you cannot omit it either, but any soured milk substitutes for it, and at worst plain milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice per cup will supply the acidity your bicarbonate of soda needs.

Is amasi just sour milk that has gone bad?

No, and the distinction matters. Amasi is fermented by lactic acid bacteria that acidify the milk and in doing so hold spoilage organisms in check, which is why it was a way of keeping milk before refrigeration. Milk that has spoiled in the fridge has been colonised by other organisms and smells bitter, putrid or yeasty rather than pleasantly sharp. If it smells wrong, discard it.

What is the thin liquid that separates out of amasi?

That is sour whey, and it is normal. Traditionally the thick curd is eaten and the watery whey, sometimes called umlaza, is drunk or used separately. If you want your substitute to look and taste more like real amasi, stir the whey that pools on top of a yogurt tub back in instead of pouring it off.

Related substitutes

More dairy substitutes

Amasi substitute

Other amasi substitutes

2Cultured buttermilk

3Kefir

4Sour cream loosened with milk

5Milk soured with lemon juice or white vinegar

6Plain yogurt cultured a little longer, or yogurt plus whey