Shrikhand Recipe - it’s silky, smooth, creamy with a hint of saffron flavor and crunch of nuts. It gets ready in 5 minutes or less (when made with greek yogurt)!
1 ½cupsGreek Yogurt(or Hung curd) *How to make hung curd mentioned below
½cupPowdered sugar (Confectioner’s sugar or icing sugar)
Few strands Saffroncrushed before adding
2teaspoonsMilkWarm
¼teaspoonGreen cardamom seeds powder
6Almondschopped
6Cashew nutschopped
6Pistachioschopped
Instructions
Crush the saffron using your fingers and add to the warm milk. Stir and keep it aside.
In a bowl add greek yogurt, powdered sugar, saffron milk. Now fold and mix. Do not stir or whisk vigorously otherwise shrikhand will get a runny consistency.
Now add cardamom powder and nuts.
Again fold them in. Cover it and chill in the refrigerator till serving.
Shrikhand tastes best when served chilled.
Video
Notes
How to make hung curd? (for traditional method)
Let’s prepare the bowl-strainer to make hung curd. Take a big, deep bowl and place the strainer on top. Choose the bowl deep enough that the strainer's bottom part is not touching the collected liquid in the bowl.
Place the muslin cloth (or man’s handkerchief) on the strainer and add 4 cups of yogurt. Gather the edges of the cloth, twist and tie. Keep in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours (you can keep overnight).
Now you will get thick yogurt (aka hung curd) and all the whey liquid is collected in the bottom bowl. You'll get about 1 ½ cups of hung curd.
Use this thick yogurt instead of greek yogurt in the above-mentioned instructions to make traditional shrikhand.
Powdered sugar: I have used store-bought powdered sugar (aka confectioner sugar or icing sugar). You can use regular granulated sugar. If so please grind into a powder form so it will be easy to mix with yogurt without messing the consistency.If making for Hindu fasting (vrat), please use regular sugar (powdered into the grinder). Do not use store-bought powdered sugar which has corn starch added.
Never stir or whisk vigorously the shrikhand mixture otherwise you will end up with runny consistency. We want a nice and thick consistency. Always fold the ingredients into the thick yogurt.
I recommend making it ahead of time and let it chill in the refrigerator. While it is chilling, the saffron flavor will keep infusing more and more.
If choosing a traditional method, then use fresh, plain (less sour) yogurt. Do not use sour yogurt, it will ruin the taste.