SHRIKHAND – श्रीखन्ड

The lovely Cher of The Not So Exciting Adventures of a Dabbler was our July Daring Cooks’ hostess and she asked us to create homemade yogurt in our own kitchens! No incubators needed, no expensive equipment or ingredients, just a few items and we had delicious yogurt for a fraction of the cost and a whole lot healthier than what you buy in the stores!
I love challenges that push you to make things from scratch!  Thanks to the Daring Kitchen I have already tried my hands at making salumi and cheese with quite good results!  As l already make my own yogurt after learning how to make it from Sawsan of Chef in Disguise, I thought of utilising my home-made yogurt to make something delicious with it.  I cook a lot with yogurt… I make both sweet and savoury dishes like my Yogurt Cake, or Papri Chaat and Raita.  This time though, I wanted to try something new and I wanted it to be a dish in which the yogurt is the star of the show.  I wanted to keep is simple.  I wanted the smooth and silky texture and the slight tartness of my home-made yogurt to shine.  So I decided to make a simple (but very classy!) Shrikhand.  It’s an Indian dessert, made with hung curd, sugar, saffron, cardamom and nuts.  That’s it.  What sets it apart from plain “sweet yogurt” is the hung curd, which is the very thick and creamy curd that is obtained by draining out the whey, just as if you were to make Labneh.  This thick curd is then whipped with sugar until fluffy.  It is basically a smooth and airy yogurt mousse.  The rest of the ingredients make it a sophisticated and well balanced dessert.  I love cardamom and you can’t beat saffron both in taste and colour!  The nuts are such a welcome textural contrast with every bite!  I can easily say that Shrikhand has become a new family favourite and I love the fact that (as long as you remember to put the yogurt to drain the night before!) it comes together in a few minutes!
Thanks Cher for such a great challenge! No more talking now, I leave you to it… Shrikhand!

5 from 3 votes

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Shrikhand – श्रीखन्ड

Not available A delicious and fluffy Indian mousse made with home-made yogurt: Shrikhand.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Indian

Prep Time: 12 hours 30 minutes

Total Time: 12 hours 30 minutes

Servings: 6

Author: Manuela Zangara

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg – 6 cups + 2 tbsp yogurt better if home-made
• 5 tbsp caster sugar to taste
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• ½ tsp saffron
• 2 tbsp milk warm
• 1.5 tbsp pistachios slivered (or crushed)
• 1.5 tbsp almonds slivered (or crushed)

Instructions

1. You will need a very thick yogurt to make Shrikhand and to obtain this you need to make “hung curd”.
2. Line a colander with a cheese cloth, put it on top of a big bowl and pour the yogurt in the cloth. Bring the four corners of the cheese cloth together and twist it to squeeze out the whey over the bowl. Do that until it drips less, then tie the top of the cloth just above the yogurt with string and put it back in the strainer.
3. Put it in the fridge to drain for at least 2 hours (but I prefer to drain it overnight as the thicker the hung curd, the creamier the final Shrikhand).
   
4. The next day, dissolve the saffron into the warm milk and keep aside for a few minutes.
   
5. Put the hung curd, sugar, cardamom powder and saffron milk in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk until fluffy and smooth.
6. Add 1 tbsp of the almonds and 1 tbsp of the pistachios and fold them in the Shrikhand.
   
7. Divide into serving cups and decorate with the remaining nuts.
8. Refrigerate it for a couple of hours before serving it cold.