Mango Shrikhand – aka – Amrakhand – Mango Flavored Yogurt based Dessert

Mango Shrikhand is a flavorful, fragrant, and creamy mango & yogurt-based dessert. It is made from thick unflavored plain yogurt (curd), sugar, mango pulp, saffron, cardamom powder, and small mango pieces for garnishing. Mango Shrikhand is also known as Amrakhand in some parts of India. Mango and Yogurt are the two delicious and healthy things that we all consume and enjoy during summer. Combining both these ingredients and making a delicious dessert out of them makes a perfect sense. Right? This dessert is perfect for summer. It requires minimum effort and a very few ingredients. Whether you have a sweet tooth or not, you ought to try this dessert.

What is Shrikhand?

Authentic Shrikhand has flavors of saffron (kesar), cardamom powder, and finely chopped nuts (nuts are optional). This dessert is cooling and perfect for summer. Shrikhand is a very popular dessert in India especially in states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Karnataka. This dessert is known as Shrikhand in northern part of India whereas it is known as Shrikarni or Shikarini in some southern states of India. In India, this dessert is served during celebrations like marriages, birthdays, religious festivals, etc. Amrakhand aka mango shrikhand is specially eaten and enjoyed during summer when we get fresh mangoes in market.

To know how to make authentic saffron and cardamom flavored shrikhand click the link below-

Shrikhand Recipe

Nutrition Facts:

Main ingredient of this dessert is Yogurt (Curd). Yogurt also known as curd in many parts of world is a very important part of many dishes in one way or the other. Many savory or sweet dishes are made from yogurt, and they are healthy and delicious. Eating yogurt has many health benefits. Yogurt is one of the best sources of probiotics. Probiotics are good bacteria that can help improve your gut health. Yogurt (curd) is made by fermenting milk with good and friendly bacteria like lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacterial. Yogurt is also very good source of Vitamin B12, Calcium, Phosphorous, and Riboflavin. It helps improve bone health. Yogurt is a rich source of protein. Yogurt has proteins like whey or casein depending on its solubility in water. Most of the proteins in yogurt (80%) are caseins. Whey accounts for 20% of the protein in yogurt. Both these proteins are extremely good nutritionally, rich in amino acids, and easy to digest. Nutritional facts are in accordance with healthline.com.

Besides yogurt, ripe mango pulp is important ingredient of this dessert. According to the research done by Harvard and other prestigious universities, consuming mangoes help in lowering cholesterol. Mangoes are rich in fibers, pectin, and vitamin C. This combination plays important role in maintaining good health. Mangoes are also full of antioxidants, Vitamin A, and beta carotene which helps in rejuvenating our skin. Consumption of mangoes also helps us in staying away from dehydration. That is why this fruit and this dessert is so important for summers.

What kind of Yogurt (Curd) can be used?

Shrikhand can be made from homemade yogurt (curd) or store-bought yogurt. You can make it from either low-fat yogurt or whole milk yogurt. The whole milk yogurt gives the perfect thick and creamy texture to this dessert. This dessert made with low-fat yogurt tastes the same, but the consistency would be little thinner compared to the whole milk yogurt.

Some people also make instant Shrikhand from Greek yogurt and sour cream instead of yogurt. People use either Greek yogurt or sour cream as a replacement of yogurt to reduce the preparation time. But it does not taste as authentic as the one made using regular unflavored plain yogurt (Curd).

Which Sugar to use?

In case of sugar, it is better to use regular powdered sugar. It mixes fast and blends well with yogurt. But in case you want to avoid regular sugar, you can use powdered jaggery, brown sugar, or your choice of sugar free sweeteners. But using any other sweetener other than regular powdered sugar may alter the flavor and look of the dessert a little bit. But it will still taste great. I have made shrikhand with sugar free sweetners for a few family members who are diabetic, and the shrikhand tasted great.

What kind of Mango to add?

Growing up in India, best part of summer was eating mangoes. We get different kinds of mangoes whole summer. Different kinds of mangoes from different regions have their unique taste, flavors, and fragrance. Here in USA, we get Indian mangoes as well as Mexican variety of mangoes. For Mango Shrikhand, we need ripe mango pulp and small chunks of ripe mango for garnishing. If you do not like chunks in your dessert you can skip adding mango chunks altogether.

In case you are making mango pulp at home; peel off the mangoes, chop the ripe mangoes, and grind them into the pulp in mixer or food processor without adding water and your mango pulp is ready to be added.

Amrakhand (Mango Shrikhand)

To make mango shrikhand / amrakhand, you can use kesar mango pulp, alphonso mango pulp, or any ripe mango pulp that is available in your area. The mango pulp can be store bought or homemade. You can use either homemade or store-bought yogurt (curd). We also need saffron strands (kesar) and cardamom powder (elaichi) to give authentic taste to this dessert. This is a make ahead kind of dessert. It stays good in refrigerator for about a week.

How to make Mango Shrikhand / Amrakhand?

Time for Cooking & Preparation – 4 hours – 12 hours.

Serves – about 4 people (depending on the serving size)

Ingredients

• 32 ounces or 4 cups – unflavored plain thick whole milk -full fat yogurt or curd (or any unflavored yogurt of your choice store bought or homemade).
• 3/4th cup of powdered sugar

• Ripe sweet mango pulp of 2-3 mangoes or 2 cups of store-bought mango pulp (you can add more or less according to your taste)
• 6-8 strands of saffron
• 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom powder
• A mint leaf for garnishing (optional)

Equipment or vessels needed for cooking and preparation-

• Two deep bowls,
• Big strainer
• White, clean, cotton cloth or a muslin cloth
• Some heavy weighing things like mortar pastel
• Refrigerator

Recipe

• Take a big deep bowl and put a strainer on it.

• Then spread white, clean cotton cloth or a muslin cloth on top of the strainer.

• Transfer the yogurt (curd) on the clean cloth.

• Bring all the corners of the cloth together and tie them tightly with a tie, rubber band, wire, thick thread, or tie tight a knot of cloth itself.
• Let the water portion (whey) of the yogurt separate and come out of this yogurt packet. The watery part will be collected in the big bowl below the strainer.
• You can keep this assembly like this for 2-3 hours out on your kitchen platform (counter top) and then put this assembly in the refrigerator for another 6-8 hours. To remove access water from it.

• Or you can keep a heavy weight like mortar and pastel or whatever heavy thing you have on this yogurt packet. This extra pressure will help access water to come out of the yogurt package faster. You can keep this assembly on the platform (counter top) for an hour and in refrigerator for another 3-4 hours. This reduces a preparation time.
• Now remove the water (whey) that is collected in the bowl.

• Transfer the thick yogurt to another deep bowl.

• Add sugar, saffron, and cardamom powder to the yogurt and whip everything well.

• Add mango pulp to the mixture. In case you are making mango pulp at home; peel off the mangoes, chop the ripe mangoes, and grind them into the pulp without adding water in your mixer or food processor and your mango pulp is ready to be added.
• Mix everything well.
• Now put this mixture in the refrigerator for another 4-6 hours. This will help sugar and the mango and saffron flavor to blend well.

• Once the sugar and the flavors are blended well, add small cut ripe mango chunks and mint leaf (optional) for garnishing.
• Amazingly fragrant, and flavorful Mango shrikhand is ready to eat/serve.

To know how to make authentic saffron and cardamom flavored shrikhand click the link below-

Shrikhand Recipe

Tips:

• Do the preparations of this dessert a day earlier then when you are supposed to eat it.
• I usually tie the yogurt in the morning, add flavors in the evening, and let the sugar and flavors blend well overnight.
• This dessert can be made from thick Greek yogurt too. It will reduce the time of water separation and it will be even richer in protein content. Greek yogurt itself is very thick in consistency so you can reduce or skip the step of whey separation. This Greek Yogurt shrikhand does taste good but it is not the authentic Indian shrikhand. Mango Shrikhand has a little tanginess of mango as well as yogurt (curd) which you can only get when you make it from regular plain yogurt (curd) whereas Greek yogurt does not have similar tanginess.

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