What is Shrikhand?
This recipe is flavored yogurt dessert popularly made in the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, in India. I love a deliciously rich, creamy and sweet shrikhand. My grandma, used to make hung curd and then prepare shrikhand at home. There are so many flavors you can infuse your yogurt with, to make this recipe. I personally, love the ease of using greek yogurt to make this recipe. I am showing you how to make the classic recipe of this flavored yogurt with saffron and cardamom. It is a traditional recipe served with puris and aloo bhaji.
How to Make This Recipe
This dessert is very simple and easy to make. If you are using greek yogurt, making hung curd is optional, but if you have time, I highly recommend it. This dessert is traditionally made with Indian Dahi. I prepare the hung curd, by placing the strainer on a bowl. Then place a cheesecloth on top of the strainer. Pour the yogurt on top of the cheesecloth, and bring the ends of the cheesecloth together. I like to place a heavy mortar pastel on top of it, to make sure akk the whey is separated. Once you have the hung curd ready, you can start whipping it until creamy. Then infuse it with saffron, and cardamom powder. I like to crush the saffron strands and then add ice cubes to it. This way it blooms beautifully, and you can retain flavor and color. I then, add powdered sugar to sweeten it, and fold the flavors in. Garnish the shrikhand with pistachio powder, rose petals, and saffron strands.
Ingredients and Serving Suggestions
I love this recipe, because it requires only few handful of ingredients to make that are pantry staple. Greek Yogurt - I recommend using full fat greek yogurt. It is creamier, and it needs only 2-3 hours to do the straining process. Saffron - Use good quality saffron to make sure you get the beautiful color and flavor to this kesar elaichi shrikhand. Cardamom Powder - I like to pound green cardamoms at home using a mortar pastel. This renders a beautiful sweet fragrant cardamom flavor, but you can use store bought cardamom powder too. Powdered Sugar - I like to use homemade powdered sugar, but you can use store bought too. I just blitz my castor sugar in my vitamix until powdered. I know, that some confectioner sugar brands have cornstarch in them. Garnishes - I love to add pistachio powder, dried rose petals to add a pop of color and saffron strands on the top. Serve the kesar elaichi shrikhand chilled, along with puris and rasawala bateta nu shaak. Serve it in small dessert bowls chilled for festivals like navratri, rakshabandhan, holi, diwali, etc.
Expert Tips
I highly recomment using plain full fat and unsweetened greek yogurt for this recipe. Please don’t skip the straining process. If you are using greek yogurt, you just need to prep this 2-3 hours ahead, and then whipping the strained yogurt and infusing it takes only 10 minutes. If you don’t have time, you can whip the green yogurt directly and infuse it with flavors. Keep it chilled and serve it as soon as possible, as it may start to become watery. If you are using dahi to make this recipe, the straining process needs upto 36-48 hours to seperate the whey from yogurt to make hung curd. I love to bloom the saffron using ice cubes and then infuse it in the yogurt. I try to avoid mixing milk and yogurt in all the recipes except lassis. The shrikhand stays fresh in the refrigerator for 3-4 days in the refrigerator in an air tight container. You can fold in some nuts to add the crunch
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