Shrikand

My blog views have crossed 2000.. yay!!! . Celebrating with a sweet.. Shrikand is a simple and delicious Indian desert. It is made with fresh curd. Curd is very rich in calcium and probiotics. This is a desert which needs a lot of time (when seen as start to finish), but the work involved is very less. Most of the time involved is waiting time. The flavor of this dish comes from the aroma of saffron and cardamom. Traditionally shrikand is served with puri, but we enjoyed it as is…. I got this recipe from here









Ingredients
Curd / Yogurt - 4 cups
Sugar - 1/4 cup (adjust to taste)
Saffron - 10 - 15 strands
Warm Milk - 1 table spoon
Cardamom Powder - 1/4 tea spoon
Sliced Almonds / Pistachios - to garnish
Method
Prepare the strainer - put a muslin cloth over a strainer and have a vessel under it to catch drippings of the whey
Take fresh curd and pour it in the prepared strainer to drain the water.
Gently squeeze the water out. Make sure not to squeeze out the curd.
Keep this entire setting with the strainer in the fridge for around 4 hours. Overnight is even better. Keeping in fridge is key to avoid the curd becoming sour
Dissolve the saffron in warm milk and once well dissolved, milk will become a beautiful yellowish color
Remove the hung curd from the fridge and add sugar, cardamom powder and saffron milk and beat well until sugar dissolves
Mix in most of the almonds and pistachios to the curd mixture and the leave a few for garnish
Refrigerate the shrikand again for another 2 hours at least before serving.
Longer the better as flavor increase considerably with refrigeration. The curd gets the chance to absorb the flavors of cardamom and saffron
Garnish with the nuts and serve
I have tried this dish with regular white sugar many times and once also tried it with Equal (sugar substitute) for my dad. I halved this recipe and used around 2 tea spoons of equal to serve for my dad. He liked it.


About curd / yogurt (from Wikipedia) - Yogurt is nutritionally rich in calcium, protein,  riboflavin, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12.^[19] It has nutritional benefits beyond those of milk. Men and women who are lactose-intolerant can sometimes tolerate yogurt better than other dairy products, because the lactose in the milk is converted to glucose and GA lactose, and partially fermented to lactic acid, by the bacterial culture. A study published in the International Journal of Obesity (11 January 2005) also found that the consumption of low-fat yogurt can promote weight loss, especially due to the calcium in the yogurt.Dahi is a yogurt of the Indian subcontinent, known for its characteristic taste and consistency. The word dahi seems to be derived from the Sanskrit word dadhi, one of the five elixirs, or panchamrita, often used in Hindu ritual.

Points to note – about Shrikand (from Wikipedia) - A popular variation of shrikhand in Maharashtra is Amrakhand (आम्रखंड), which is shrikhand blended with mango pulp. Another variant of shrikhand, Matho (મઠો), is served as a sweet dish or dessert. The preparation method is almost the same, but some fresh fruits are always added in Matho

Sending this to my own event – Anniversary event, Blogging Marathon #19 for Calcium Rich Foods, Bookmarked Entries - Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes as host and mention Ruth from Ruth's Kitchen Experiments as founder of the challenge, Let's Party - Festive Foods, Vardhini's Diwali Bash,  Celebrate - Indian Sweets,  Gayathri's WTML, hosted by Preeti

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#19