Shrikhand – Flavorful Yogurt based Dessert

 

Shrikhand is a flavorful, fragrant, and creamy yogurt-based dessert. It is made from thick yogurt (curd), sugar, and flavors of your choice. Authentic Shrikhand has flavors of saffron (kesar), cardamom powder, and finely chopped nuts (nuts are optional) are used for garnishing. This dessert is cooling and 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.

 

Origin of Shrikhand

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.

 

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. Additional ingredients that we add for flavor, further adds to the nutritional value of this Dessert.

 

Yogurt (Curd)

Shrikhand can be made from unflavored plain 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. Low-fat yogurt tastes the same, but the consistency would be little thinner compared to the whole milk plain 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).

 

Sugar

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.

 

Flavor

In case of the flavors, you can make shrikhand of any flavor. Usually, the authentic flavor of shrikhand is of saffron and cardamom. And is garnished with finely chopped nuts like pistachio and almonds. Nuts are completely optional and can be eliminated from recipe. Shrikhand tastes and looks great without them. Beside authentic flavor, shrikhand can have flavors like strawberry, mango, sitafal (custard apple or sugar apple), blue berries, chickoo, etc.

 

How to make Shrikhand?

Time for Cooking & Preparation – 4 – 12 hours. 

Serves – 4 – 6 people (depending on the serving size)

 

Ingredients

• 32 ounces or 4 cups – unflavored plain thick whole milk full fat yogurt or curd

• 1 cup of powdered sugar

• 8- 10 strands of saffron

• 1 teaspoon of cardamom powder

• 1 spoon of chopped pistachio and almond for garnishing (optional eliminating doesn’t alter the taste)

 

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, or make a tight knot.
• 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 for an hour and in refrigerator for another 3-4 hours. This reduces the 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.
• Taste it for sweetness if necessary add additional sugar according to your taste and mix again.
• Now put this mixture in the refrigerator for another 4-6 hours. This will help sugar and the flavor and color of saffron to blend well.
• Once the sugar and flavors are blended well, garnish it with saffron and chopped nuts. Nuts are optional you can garnish it with just few strands of saffron and it will taste and look good.
• Amazingly fragrant, and flavorful Shrikhand is ready to eat/serve.

 

 

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 (I have learned this  never failing technique from my mother in law – someone who has over 40 years of cooking experience).
• This dessert can be made from thick Greek yogurt too. It will reduce or cut off 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. Indian Shrikhand has a little tanginess which you can only get when you make it from regular plain yogurt (curd) whereas Greek yogurt doesn’t have similar tanginess.

 

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