Shrikhand

We visited my husband's cousin Divya last month. After dinner, as we got talking, she told me about how her friend made Shrikhand using Greek yogurt. I had seen Greek yogurt being mentioned in lots of dishes, but had never tried my hand at it. So I was excited and jumped at the idea of making Shrikand with Greek yogurt. Both of us experimented a little and with prior kowledge of how Shrikhand tastes, came up with a pretty tasty dish!

Today being Krishnashtami, I thought of making it again. This time I used regular yogurt because I was curious to see how it turned out. The difference is, Greek Yogurt is already strained and thick so if you use it, you are saving yourself a great deal of time and cleaning! If you use regular yogurt you will have to hang it in a muslin cloth and leave it for a few hours till all the water (whey) drains out and you get thick yogurt called 'hung curd' or 'Chakka'.

Here's the recipe :

Ingredients :

2 cups (about 17.6oz  / 500 g) hung curd or Greek yogurt

3/4 cup sugar*

1/4 tsp saffron

1 tsp warm milk

1/2 tsp cardamom powder

1/4 cup crushed pistachios or almonds

Method :

Lightly crush saffron, dissolve in milk and keep aside. In a large bowl, mix yogurt thoroughly with sugar. If the curd is sour, you may need more sugar. If you are using Greek yogurt, start with 2/3 cup of sugar and adjust accordingly. Add saffron and milk. Sprinkle the cardamom powder. Add half the quantity of nuts and mix well.

Refrigerate for atleast one hour.

Garnish with remaining nuts and a few saffron strands.

My li'l muddu krishna enjoyed the Shrikhand! He was very curious to know what I was making. And when I gave him a small bowl of Shrikhand he gobbled it up and asked for more!

Sending this to 'Flavors of Gujrat'.

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