My Favourite Shrikhand
If you’ve never eaten shrikhand before, then a relentless Indian summer is the ultimate time for your initiation. Made with a simple base of hung curd and sugar, flavoured with saffron and cardamom, it’s creamy but light and impossibly delicious. It should be enjoyed chilled and during mango season, if you add fresh mango pulp to the base, you will have a bowl of heaven called aamrakhand. Or, just add chopped mango for the best of both worlds. This is the only shrikhand I really really love to eat, the way it’s been made in my friend's Maharashtrian home and so every other version is held to this high standard!
This recipe makes a shrikhand that’s tangy and therefore not cloyingly sweet, has a consistency that’s not super thick unlike many store-bought versions but more pudding-like. Know that if you make a mango version and use enough pulp to really get the flavour to shine, the shrikhand will be thinner, but obviously delicious.
The amount of sugar you use depends on the sourness of the curd which increases in warm weather. So it helps to taste as you go and also know that all the flavours settle in together and intensify by the next day.
Ok let’s get to it and I hope you enjoy this shrikhand as much as I do!
- 1 litre whole milk
- 2 litres skim milk
- 2 tbsps curd/plain yoghurt as a starter
- Granulated or caster sugar (the quantity varies)
- A pinch of saffron
- 1 tsp cardamom powder (freshly ground is best)
- 6 to 8 Alphonso mangoes