RECIPE: Shrikhand

After looking at the simple recipes I've been posting, you must be thinking that I know nothing but simple recipes, that every Tom, Dick and Harry can make, right? Well, I'm going to prove you wrong by this recipe here.

Shrikhand has always been my favorite dish, since I was a kid. My mom used to make it quite often, and I would never tire of it. It is a Gujarati dish, and is also a part of Maharashtrian cuisine. We usually have it with pooris or just chappathis, but you can have it just like that too. Its really delicious, and if you're a yogurt lover, you are bound to go ga-ga shrikhand, the way I do!

Note: I made shrikhand with the curd that I make at home from milk. I'm posting the recipe just from the curd part.

SERVING SIZE: About a medium-sized bowl (250 g. or 8.8 oz)

PREPARATION TIME: 2 days (to prepare the butter for it), 10 mins. to mix actual ingredients.

INGREDIENTS:

• Yogurt or curd - 1 quart
• Sugar - 8-10 tbsp. preferably icing sugar (Depends on sweetness preferred.)
• Sliced Pistachios - 2 tbsp. (unflavored)
• Cardamom Powder (Elaichi Powder) - A small pinch
• Saffron Strings (Kesar) - Half tsp.

APPLIANCES NEEDED: Blender, if required.

EXTRAS NEEDED: A thin cloth big enough to hold the curd, preferably a muslin cloth. I used a towel (thortham or thundu) because I don't have a muslin cloth with me!

METHOD:

• Spread the cloth in a large open vessel.
• Pour the thick curd onto the cloth.
• Tie the ends of the cloth to make a small pouch that holds the curd in it.
• Suspend the pouch from a nail or hook or wherever you can hang it.
• Place a vessel under the pouch, to collect the water that is strained from the curd.
• Leave the pouch suspended for an entire day and a half, until almost all the water has been drained off.
• Then, place the pouch on a vessel with holes and place something heavy, like a pressure cooker over the pouch; the idea is to drain the last few drops of water in the curd. Leave it this way for about 2-3 hours.
• Untie the pouch and the curd would have left back the butter.
• Put the butter on a a bowl. Scrape the cloth to get all the butter. It would look like in the picture below.

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• If the sugar is granular, grind it in the blender to make it fine and powdery. Grind the sugar with the cardamom powder to get the flavor of cardamom even.

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• Add the ground sugar and cardamom powder to the butter.

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• Mix well.

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• You will notice that the butter that was hard gradually becomes soft and creamy.

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• Add the pistachios.

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• Mix thoroughly.

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• Add the saffron strands and mix well again.

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• The saffron strings will impart a beautiful "poised" yellowish color after sometime, and mix again nicely, to spread the yellow color uniformly.

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• Shrikhand ready!
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PURPLE TIPS:

• You can add mango pulp to make it Amrakhand.
• Adding slivered almonds too will make it nice and nutty!
• You can add other fruit syrups too, like apple, or strawberry etc. to get a different flavor. Even tiny fruit pieces might be a good idea.
• Along with the cardamom powder you can add more spices like nutmeg powder or even a dash of cinnamon powder.
• Making it from home-made curd is much better than making it from the curd you buy here, because it is usually mixed with cornstarch and gelatin, and may not be a healthy as the one made at home.

Do the pictures tempt you? Maybe you can try it yourself someday, and give yourself a good treat for studying hard! ;)

Now let me go and enjoy my shrikhand!

XOXO,

Purple Poise.