Shrikhand is an Indian sweet dish made using thick yogurt and powdered sugar. It is flavored with cardamom and saffron and garnished with pistachios for that crunch. Shrikhand Puri is a popular combination served on many festive occasions.
Add whole milk plain yogurt to a clean cloth or muslin cloth and close it by tying the ends together. Squeeze it to drain off the whey (water) as much as possible.
Place the cloth with yogurt in a sieve with bowl below to catch excess whey.
Add some weight (using my mortar pestle) on top to drain off the excess whey.
Let it stay under weight for 4-5 hours or even overnight in the refrigerator.
Open the cloth and the thickened yogurt (hung curd/chakka) is ready.
To make saffron (kesar) infused milk
Warm the milk for few seconds in the microwave and add kesar to it. Mix and allow it to stand for 10 -15 mins. Mix well and there you have your yellow color saffron infused milk.
To make Kesar Pista Shrikhand
Transfer the hung curd (chakka) to a bowl and add the cardamom powder, powdered sugar, salt and saffron milk to it. Mix until well combined.
Transfer to the serving bowl and garnish with pistachios and sprinkle some more saffron on top (optional).
Serve immediately or store in refrigerator until ready to use.
Notes
Soaked kesar (saffron) will give a nice yellow color the shrikhand. If you don’t have kesar feel free to skip it.
Use greek Yogurt to fasten the process as you can skip the yogurt straining process.