SHRIKAND - A SWEET DISH MADE WITH YOGURT AND SUGAR ETC.

SHRIKAND is a sweet dish always served chilled.   It can be served with pooris (recipe to follow soon).   Most Gujarati thalis have this as one of their sweet items and it provides a refreshing change when eating  hot and spicy curries.  It can also be served as a sweet dish at the end of a meal. It's often served at weddings in the summer.

Shrikhand's recipe is easy and versatile. You can make many variations of it by adding honey or fruit to it.

Ingredients (serves 4-6):

Yoghurt (I made homemade yogurt with 2 litres of full fat milk - recipe below). If using shop bought yoghurt, I would buy the cheaper brands rather than the Greek style yogurt.  Greek style yogurt is lovely and thick and can be made to taste like shrikand by adding sugar or honey to it.

8-10 tablespoons sugar

handful of almonds and  pistachios - sliced thinly

cardamom- gently crushed in a mortar

half a teaspoon of saffron

half a teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg.

Method:

Recipe for yoghurt:

Ingredients:

Milk 2 litres  (you can use semi skimmed or full fat milk)

Small pot of live yoghurt

Method:

Boil the 2 litres of milk.

Transfer this to a container with a lid.

Cool the milk down to about 45 degrees.

Add  3 tablespoons of live yoghurt to the milk and stir.

Cover the container and keep in an airtight and warm cupboard. In the winter,  I tend to keep my container in the microwave.  I also add a boiled kettle next to my container to give the microwave some warmth .  Sounds crazy but it works!!  I know of friends who keep a hot water bottle next to their container.  In hot countries, it is a lot easier to make yoghurt. My suggestion would be make the yogurt overnight.

Recipe for Shrikand: 

1.  Take a clean muslin or similar type of cloth.  Using a large bowl, transfer the yoghurt into the muslin cloth and tie a knot to the cloth. 

2.  Hang this for several hours - overnight if possible. I use the banana stand to hang mine.

3.  The curds and whey will separate. (The whey can be used to make dhokra or kadhi)

4.  The curd will now resemble curd cheese.

5.  Transfer the curds to a mixing bowl.

6.  Add the sugar and mix well using a wooden spoon.

7.  I have a sweet tooth so tend to use more sugar.  My advice would be to taste and decide how much sugar is needed.

7. Add in the nutmeg, cardomom, saffron and half the almonds and pistachio.

8. Transfer to a serving dish and decorate with almonds and pistachios. Leave it in the fridge before serving.

9.  You can add fruit such as pomegranates, passion fruit, mangoes etc..to the shrikand if you wish.

Please see the video of pictures to make this recipe easier to follow