I love this Kesar Elaichi Shrikhand. It is Greek yogurt flavored with saffron and cardamom. It is traditionally sweetened with powdered sugar and garnished with rose petals, saffron, and pistachios.
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What is Shrikhand?
This recipe is flavored yogurt dessert popularly made in the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, in India. I love a deliciously rich, creamy and sweet shrikhand. My grandma, used to make hung curd and then prepare shrikhand at home.
There are so many flavors you can infuse your yogurt with, to make this recipe. I personally, love the ease of using greek yogurt to make this recipe.
I am showing you how to make the classic recipe of this flavored yogurt with saffron and cardamom. It is a traditional recipe served with puris and aloo bhaji.
How to Make This Recipe
This dessert is very simple and easy to make. If you are using greek yogurt, making hung curd is optional, but if you have time, I highly recommend it.
This dessert is traditionally made with Indian Dahi. I prepare the hung curd, by placing the strainer on a bowl. Then place a cheesecloth on top of the strainer. Pour the yogurt on top of the cheesecloth, and bring the ends of the cheesecloth together. I like to place a heavy mortar pastel on top of it, to make sure akk the whey is separated.
Once you have the hung curd ready, you can start whipping it until creamy. Then infuse it with saffron, and cardamom powder.
I like to crush the saffron strands and then add ice cubes to it. This way it blooms beautifully, and you can retain flavor and color.
I then, add powdered sugar to sweeten it, and fold the flavors in. Garnish the shrikhand with pistachio powder, rose petals, and saffron strands.
Ingredients and Serving Suggestions
I love this recipe, because it requires only few handful of ingredients to make that are pantry staple.
Greek Yogurt - I recommend using full fat greek yogurt. It is creamier, and it needs only 2-3 hours to do the straining process.
Saffron - Use good quality saffron to make sure you get the beautiful color and flavor to this kesar elaichi shrikhand.
Cardamom Powder - I like to pound green cardamoms at home using a mortar pastel. This renders a beautiful sweet fragrant cardamom flavor, but you can use store bought cardamom powder too.
Powdered Sugar - I like to use homemade powdered sugar, but you can use store bought too. I just blitz my castor sugar in my vitamix until powdered. I know, that some confectioner sugar brands have cornstarch in them.
Garnishes - I love to add pistachio powder, dried rose petals to add a pop of color and saffron strands on the top.
Serve the kesar elaichi shrikhand chilled, along with puris and rasawala bateta nu shaak. Serve it in small dessert bowls chilled for festivals like navratri, rakshabandhan, holi, diwali, etc.
Expert Tips
- I highly recomment using plain full fat and unsweetened greek yogurt for this recipe.
- Please don't skip the straining process. If you are using greek yogurt, you just need to prep this 2-3 hours ahead, and then whipping the strained yogurt and infusing it takes only 10 minutes.
- If you don't have time, you can whip the green yogurt directly and infuse it with flavors. Keep it chilled and serve it as soon as possible, as it may start to become watery.
- If you are using dahi to make this recipe, the straining process needs upto 36-48 hours to seperate the whey from yogurt to make hung curd.
- I love to bloom the saffron using ice cubes and then infuse it in the yogurt. I try to avoid mixing milk and yogurt in all the recipes except lassis.
- The shrikhand stays fresh in the refrigerator for 3-4 days in the refrigerator in an air tight container.
- You can fold in some nuts to add the crunch
FAQ's for Shrikhand Recipe
I highly recommend to use plain full fat greek yogurt to make this recipe. Straining the greek yogurt and seperating the whey gives the creamiest shrikhand, but if you don't have time you can skip it, and serve the shrikhand once chilled.
I recommend not to skip making the hung curd. The straining process helps the yogurt to be creamy, and not become watery once whipped.
You can add the whey in your smoothies, or roti and paratha dough.
You can make the shrikhand healthier, by either adding honey, maple syrup or stevia as sweetners.
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Kesar Elaichi Shrikhand
These nutrional values are automatically generated. Use them for estimation only.
Equipment
- 1 Stand Mixer or Electric Mixer or Whisk
- 1 Mixing Bowl
Ingredients
- 32 oz Full Fat Greek Yogurt
- 10-12 Saffron Strands Crush them using mortar pastel into powder, and add 1 ice cube to it. Add the saffron water to the shrikhand.
- 1 Teaspoon Ground Cardamom
- ¾ Cup Powdered Sugar
- ¼ Cup Pistachios Finely chopped or powdered
Instructions
Strain the Greek Yogurt or Regular Yogurt
- Start with placing a strainer on a bowl. Place the cheesecloth on top of the strainer.
- Now add the greek yogurt, on the cheesecloth.
- Pull all the ends of the cheesecloth and twist and squeeze to separate the yogurt and the whey
- Add a heavy bowl or mortar and pastel to help the yogurt sweat out the excess water. Place it in the refrigerator if it is hot. Keep it outside if it is cool.
- I like to place it in the refrigerator to make sure the greek yogurt doesn't get sour any further than it already is.
- After 3 hours, your hung curd should be ready. If you are using regular dahi, this process will take about 24 hours.
Bloom The Saffron and Make Cardamom Powder
- In a small mortar pastel add 10-12 strands of good quality saffron. Pound it until powdered. To this add an ice cube. This helps bloom the saffron, and retain maximum flavor. You can also add 1.5 tablespoons of cold milk instead of an ice cube.
- Add green cardamom pods and lightly pound them. Once the green shell separates, take it out. Now pound the cardamom seeds until finely powdered.
Make Shrikhand
- Add the hung curd to a mixing bowl. Whip the yogurt until thick and creamy using a stand mixer, hand mixer or a whisk.
- Add the saffron water, cardamom powder and mix again.
- Finally add powdered sugar and mix it well.
- Store the shrikhand in an airtight container. Chill it for atleast 2-3 hours before serving
- To serve garnish the shrikhand with pistachios, dried rose petals and saffron strands.
Notes
- Don't over-mix the shrikhand it can become water and runny. Stop whipping the shrikhand once you see soft peaks.
- You can make it 1-2 days ahead of time. It stays well in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days in an airtight container.
- Shrikhand tastes best when served with puris.
- Make a cookie crumble base, with butter. Layer the cookie crumbles to a dessert cup, and pipe the shrikhand on it using a piping bag. squeeze out the excess sugar syrup from the gulab jamun and place it on top! It makes for a delicious party dessert!
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