A Guide to Making the Perfect Shrikhand: Best Indian Dessert Recipe Unveiled

A delicious and simple dessert, the shrikhand is essentially a thickened yogurt with deep flavour. In this handy guide, we’re showing you two ways of making this dessert and you can pick whichever works for you best.

Ingredients with hung curd:

• 4.5 cups curd (yoghurt)
• 9 tablespoons sugar
• ½ teaspoon cardamom powder or 4 to 5 green cardamoms – crushed fine in a mortar
• 30 saffron strands or 2 pinches
• ½ tablespoon warm milk
• 8 pistachios crushed or chopped – add any nut of choice

Directions:

Line a deep bowl with a strainer and add a muslin cloth to it. Pour the fresh curd into the cloth and bring the four edges of the cloth together, tying them up. Use a hook to hang the muslin cloth in your fridge. Let it hang for 6 hours or overnight if you've planned ahead. Make sure you're using a deep bowl underneath or the whey dripping out will touch the strainer and not all of it will drip out.

The next day, your whey will be separated out and the hung curd will be ready. You can use up the whey in regular cooking like when making vegetables or chappatis or rice and dals.

Collect the hung curd in a bowl.

In a small bowl, add warm milk and two pinches of saffron strands. Stir and set aside.

In a mortar with a pestle, powder 4-5 green cardamoms. Set aside.

In the bowl with the hung curd, add the sugar and stir lightly. Then add the saffron to it and mix well. Use a handheld mixer or processor to beat the hung curd. Keep beating till it's smooth and the sugar has dissolved completely. Periodically stop beating to scrape down the sides of the bowl and bring everything back to the middle. Then beat again until completely smooth and airy.

Store in the fridge, then top with dry fruits and serve chilled.

Ingredients with greek yoghurt:

• 1.5 cups chilled greek yoghurt
• 3 pinches grated nutmeg
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon warm milk
• 15 saffron strands or 1 pinch
• 2 tablespoon nuts (of your choice) – cashews, almonds or pistachios

Directions:

In a bowl, take the milk and warm it on the stove or in the microwave. Add a pinch of the saffron strands. Stir and set aside.

Take the yoghurt in a bowl. Add the sugar to it and mix well till all the sugar is dissolved. Keep whisking till it reaches a smooth, creamy consistency. Then add the saffron milk, cardamom powder and nutmeg powder. Mix well. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

Serve chilled with some sliced nuts on top.

Notes, tips and tricks:

If you don't want to use a lot of elbow grease, you can also beat the yoghurt with a blender. You’ll have the same results in a much shorter time. Remember to check the consistency periodically. You want it to be smooth and airy, but not too liquidy. The mixture can fall apart if you whip it too much. So be mindful of that.

Shrikhand gets its signature yellow colour from the saffron strands, so don't be stingy with the amount you use. Use a generous pinch or two, not just for colour but a refreshing flavour. If, however, you don't happen to have saffron with you, then you can just as well make the shrikhand without it.

If you want, you can add any fruit puree to make a flavoured shrikhand, like a mango puree for example.

You can easily make a vegan shrikhand. Use non dairy yoghurt and any milk alternative of your choice, like oat milk, almond milk, soy milk or whatever you prefer.

It's best to make shrikhand ahead of time so you don't have to serve it immediately. It's good if you give it some time to sit in the fridge so that it becomes a bit firm. You can make it a day in advance if possible.

Shrikhand can be served plain as a dessert, or as a dip with pooris or chapatis.

Your shrikhand can be stored in the fridge for a week and in the freezer for 2 months.