Shrikhand is a famous Maharashtrian sweet dish made during various Indian festivals. This sweetened yogurt recipe is typically eaten along with puris. The best part of shrikhand is that can be made 2-3 days prior and stored in fridge. So if you have any guest coming home, this is the most hassle free dish which can be stored upto 15 days. My mother makes huge batch of shrikhand and trust me, its our go-to dessert!
You can definitely take this dessert up a notch by adding mango puree and make Amrakhand or turn it into a chilled refreshing drink called Piyush.
The picture above shows a simple no flavoured shrikhand and mango flavoured i.e. Amrakhand to the right.
Ingredients:
- 1 litre of full fat milk
- 1 cup sugar (approx 250 gms)
- 4 alphonso mangoes
- Nutmeg powder (1 tsp)
- Cardamom powder (1tsp)
- sliced pistachios and almonds, chironji for garnish
- Few strands of saffron
Procedure:
Shrikhand needs some prep to be done beforehand i.e making of hung curd.
Prior day prep
Boil the full fat milk and allow it to cool down. I would insist using full fat milk over skimmed to attain desired texture and creaminess.
Once milk is lukewarm, add 3- 4 tbsp curd and gently whisk the milk to make a fresh batch of yogurt. Whisking eliminates lumps in the curd and smooth creamy textured yogurt is achieved.
Yogurt is formed in approx 4-5 hours depending on the humidity of the place you stay. Make sure yogurt is prepared by late evening, so you can plan to boil the milk accordingly.
Once thick and creamy yogurt is formed, we need to transfer this batch on a thin muslin cloth.
Place the muslin cloth in another bowl and transfer the yogurt on muslin cloth carefully. Make sure you have ample space kept to tie the cloth. Once yogurt is transferred, you need to gently tie the muslin cloth into a potli with a knot on top. Hang this at a height above your kitchen counter top and place a bowl below it. Yogurt will drain all its water overnight and you will get a thick, hung curd. This procedure is indeed time consuming but its worth the wait!
Making shrikhand
Next morning when you wake up, you will find all the water is collected in the bowl and creamy textured hung curd is formed inside the muslin cloth.
To make this hung curd extra smooth in texture we need to pass it through any steel strainer.
Keep a bowl below the strainer to collect the hung curd which now you will observe to be more light and creamy in texture.
Take 1 cup of sugar and grind into fine powder. Quantity of sugar can be altered as per your taste.
Add powdered sugar into strained hung curd and gently fold the mixture with a spatula. You can even add few strands of saffron soaked in warm milk into this mixture.
As you gradually mix, this creamy white cheese like curd into light pale yellow as we have mixed saffron in it.
Add freshly grated nutmeg of about 1/4 tsp, 1 tsp cardamom powder and a pinch of salt.
NOTE: If you find the shrikhand is too thick, then you can add 1/4 cup of room temperature milk.
Store this shrikhand in a glass container and garnish with sliced pistachios, almonds and chironji.
Making Amrakhand (Mango flavoured shrikhand)
Amrakhand is a must have during mango season or even otherwise if you deep freeze mango puree.
This mango flavoured sweet yogurt literally melts in your mouth!
For approx 1 litre milk, we need 4- 5 medium sized mangos. Take the skin off and make mango puree in a blending jar.
We need to slightly cook mango puree before adding it into shrikhand. By doing so, the water content in mango puree is reduced and your amrakhand will remain thick and creamy.
Transfer the mango into a nonstick pan and cook it for about 4-5 mins or until the puree comes together. Let the puree cool down to room temperature and then slowly mix with shrikhand.
Garnish with sliced dry fruits (same as we did for shrikhand), transfer in glass bowl and store in fridge.