Shrikhand
I ate this dessert during our last trip to India, at the Taj Mahal hotel (in Mumbai). The waiter told me that this is the king of all deserts, no desert compares with it. I thought he was just being patriotic. However, after tasting it, I agreed with him, it is really the king of all deserts.
It is a popular dessert in India, and a Google search will yield thousands of recipes. I will give one here, but there are many variations. While Shrikhand is high in calories, it is also very nutritious, since it has milk as its base (as many Indian sweets do). There is no all purpose flour (which has very little nutrition).
Ingredients:
- 1 kg Yogurt, 1 kg
- Milk, 1 Tsp warm
- Sugar, powdered, 1/2 cup (or to taste)
- Slivers Almonds, 1 Tsp
- Saffron, a few strands
- Pistachios (sliced or whole)
1.Tie yogurt in a muslin cloth and hang it in a cool place for 3-4 hours until all the water has drained off. Untie the cloth and transfer the yogurt in a bowl.
This step is very important. You must remove all the water (or at least as much as you can). After the water has drained off, it helps to put a large weight on the cloth for an hour or so.
You may also add a container of sour cream to it (say, 500 g) to give it sour taste.
2.Dissolve the saffron in the warm milk.
3.Mix together the yogurt, sugar; saffron milk and cardamom powder in a bowl blend in blender.
- Garnish Shrikhand with silver almonds. And pistachios.
Be generous with the saffron. It gives Shrikhand a very attractive colour and a very aromatic fragrance. The best way to extract the color from saffron is to let it soak in warm milk for a while.