Creamy, Saffron Condensed Yogurt Dessert (Shrikhand) Recipe - Cooking Index
4 cups | 948ml | Whole-milk yogurt - (1 l) |
1/4 teaspoon | 1.3ml | Ground saffron threads - (1 ml) |
1/4 teaspoon | 1.3ml | Ground cardamom - (1 ml) |
1 tablespoon | 15ml | Rosewater - (20 ml) - (or) |
Few drops rose essence | ||
2 tablespoons | 30ml | Blanched raw slivered pistachio nuts - |
(40 ml) | ||
1/2 cup | 99g / 3.5oz | Icing sugar - (125 ml) |
This popular Gujarati sweet is simple to prepare. Yogurt is hung in a cloth to remove excess liquid. The solid residue, called yogurt cheese, or dehin, is sweetened, flavoured with saffron, pistacio nuts, cardamom, and rosewater, beaten until silk smooth, and served ice-cold in little cups.
As an alternative, replace the saffron, nuts, cardamom, and rosewater with 1/4 cup (60ml) fresh, vine-ripened chopped raspberries, strawberries, or blackberries.
Shrikhand is ideal for preparing in large quantities. Remember the simple sugar-to-yogurt ratio: good quality yougurt should yield 50% liquid (whey) when hung. Add sugar to the yogurt cheese in the ratio of one to four; in other words, the sugar content of Shrikhand is one-eight part the original quantity of yogurt.
Reserve the liquid residue that drips out of the yogurt. It's a first-class curdling agent to make Homemade Curd cheese (Panir). Shrikhand is delicious served with slices of fresh mango and puffed plain flour pooris sprinkled with sugar.
1. Place a triple thickness of cheesecloth in a colander. Spoon in the yogurt, gather-up the corners of the cloth, tie it into a bundle, and hang it either in a refrigerator or in a cool spot for 12 or 16 hours. Catch the drips in a bowl.
2. The residue yogurt cheese should have reduced to half the original quantity. Transfer it to a bowl, add the ground saffron, ground cardamom seeds, rose water, pistacio nuts, and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.
YIELD: enough for 8 to 12 persons
Source:
Kurma's Great Vegetarian Dishes by Kurma Dasa
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