SHRIKHAND - GUJARATI STYLE
Shrikhand is a creamy, delicious yogurt based Gujarati sweet dish. Nuts and spices add an exotic flavour. It is usually served with hot puris.
Ingredients
- 1 litre plain Greek yogurt
- ¾ -1 cup powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp strands of saffron
- ½ -1 tsp cardamom powder
- ¼ tsp nutmeg powder
- 10-12 almonds sliced or roughly chopped
- 10-12 pistachios sliced or roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp milk
Instructions
- Put the yogurt on a clean muslin or cotton cloth which you have draped over a sieve or a colander. Cover the yogurt with the cloth.
- Place a wad of newspaper on the cloth. Place some heavy object on it, like a clean stone, brick, mortar and pestle, etc whatever you have in the house.
- Leave it for about 15 minutes. All the water from the yogurt will drain out to give you a nice thick curd cheese.
- Heat about a teaspoon of milk and soak the saffron in it.
- Remove the curd cheese from the cloth and put it into a bowl. Add sugar to the curd cheese or strained yogurt. Mix well with a hand blender till the mixture is smooth.
- Add the cardamom, nutmeg and saffron milk. Mix well.
- The mixture will catch the saffron colour after a while. Can either sprinkle the nuts on top or mix it into the shrikhand. Whichever you prefer.
- Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.
- Tastes best when it is cold, just out of the fridge.
Notes
- To serve as a dessert, can mix in fresh fruits like mangoes, grapes, pomegranate, tangerine, strawberries. Basically any fruit of our choice. Add these fruits just before serving.
- For diabetics or calorie conscious people, you can add artificial sweeteners or stevia. I’ve used erythritol and it does not leave any bitter after taste.
- You can adjust the amount of sugar and spices according to your taste.
- If you don’t get Greek Yogurt, use plain yogurt. Usually from 2 litres of plain yogurt we get approximately 4 cups of curd cheese.
- If you want to serve Shrikhand for Ekadashi or any fasting day, don't use ready made icing sugar or confectioners' sugar as it contains cornflour or corn starch.