Cooking Index - Cooking Recipes & IdeasCreamy, Saffron Condensed Yogurt Dessert (Shrikhand) Recipe - Cooking Index

Creamy, Saffron Condensed Yogurt Dessert (Shrikhand)

Cuisine: Indian
Courses: Dessert
Serves: 8 people

Recipe Ingredients

4 cups 948mlWhole-milk yogurt - (1 l)
1/4 teaspoon 1.3mlGround saffron threads - (1 ml)
1/4 teaspoon 1.3mlGround cardamom - (1 ml)
1 tablespoon 15mlRosewater - (20 ml) - (or)
  Few drops rose essence
2 tablespoons 30mlBlanched raw slivered pistachio nuts -
  (40 ml)
1/2 cup 99g / 3.5ozIcing sugar - (125 ml)

Recipe Instructions

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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