Kesar Pista Shrikhand in 30 minutes!

This recipe takes me less time than running to the store to get shrikhand. Plus I used nonfat Greek yogurt and had the Shrikhand that rose in peaks!

Traveling back home from Los Angles, I am thinking of my blog post for today. With all the fusion Vietnamese, Cajun, Indian and Mexican recipes I ate there, I am going crazy with ideas for my blog post.

But with Dassera tomorrow, I decide to make Shrikhand. Shrikhand is the sweet made of yogurt, sugar, saffron and cardamom. Growing up in Maharashtra, India, I felt like the various festivals that were celebrated all year long, had specific sweets assigned to them. Shrikhand to be eaten with puri, the fried puffy bread, was made on auspicious occasions like Dassera and Paadwa.

Shrikhand is traditionally made with plain yogurt that is tied in cheesecloth and hung to drain. This process takes at least 8 hours, if not overnight. The solids are then mixed with sugar, saffron and cardamom powder and topped with nuts.

With Greek yogurt becoming so popular in recent years, many of us thought how we could make shrikhand in an instant. But Greek yogurt becomes runny when mixed with sugar. The thick texture of the shrikhand is just as important for that authentic taste, so we were disappointed.

Hence my experiment today! I am happy to report that shrikhand lovers will truly appreciate this 30 minute recipe for its taste and for the texture- I have shrikhand that rose up in peaks when I whisked it! Yum!

I started with a cup of store bought, plain, nonfat Greek yogurt. I like the Kirkland brand at Costco.  I put it in a double cheesecloth.

I folded the cheesecloth

And covered it all around with paper towels.

Then sandwiched this package in paper towels between 2 stacks of newspaper ads and placed a heavy weight on it-in this case my stone mortar and pestle. Leave it alone for about 25 minutes. This method helps get rid of the extra liquid/whey in the Greek yogurt in such short time.

Meanwhile, I take a fat pinch of saffron strands in a microwave safe bowl and warm it for 20 seconds. Then I add 1 teaspoon of Greek yogurt to it and stir well to combine, and set it aside.

I gather the 3 other ingredients.

After 25 minutes, I remove the mortar and pestle weight, throw away the soaked newspapers and paper towels and open my cheesecloth package.

Look at the texture of the yogurt in just 25 minutes!

Add the saffron and yogurt mixture, sugar, salt and the cardamom powder and whisk together. Look at the shrikhand peaks!

I topped it with powdered pistachio nuts (optional)

Hope you enjoy this quick and easy Kesar Pista Shrikhand this Dussera!

Love,

Sandhya