Shrikhand is a magical transformation of simple curds into a delicacy, by a simple procedure. It involves no cooking and is a standard feature of sunday meals, festive menus as well as faraal foods! things get even easier as it can be made in advance and stored in the freezer for close to 15 days. Use fresh curds for best results.

Preparation Time : 5Hr : 15mins

Cooking time : 0 minutes (NO Cooking)

Servings : Depends

Ingredients for hung curd:

• 4.5 cups fresh full fat dahi (curd made from 1 litre milk), about 1.125 kg or 1.125 litres

Ingredients for shrikhand:

• 8 to 9 tbsp sugar or powdered sugar, add as per taste
• ½ tsp cardamom powder or 4 to 5 green cardamoms crushed finely in a mortar-pestle
• 2 pinch saffron strands
• ½ tbsp warm milk
• 7 to 8 crushed or chopped pistachios for garnish, you can use any dry fruit of your choice

How to make hung curd or yogurt:

1. First line the strainer on a deep bowl. then line a muslin cheesecloth or kitchen cotton towel on the strainer.
2. Pour the fresh curd. i added 4.5 cups of curd (made from 1 litre of full fat milk, about 1.125 kgs). do use fresh curd and not sour one.
3. Bring the four edges of the muslin together and tie one edge tightly around the rest.
4. Gently press and you will see the whey dripping.
5. Now place a heavy bowl or lid or tray on the tied muslin. if you have a hook, you can also hung the muslin in your refrigerator. now keep the whole thing in the fridge for 4 to 5 hours or overnight. i kept for 24 hours. do use a deep bowl below, so that there is some distance between the curd in the strainer and the collected whey. otherwise the whey will touch the strainer as well as the curd. thus there will be some whey in the curd.
6. Next day the whey will be drained and the hung curd will be ready. use the collected nutrient rich greenish whey in your everyday food like preparing chapatis, gravies, rice dishes, dals etc.
7. With a silicon spatula, collect the hung curd in a container or lidded bowl if not using it. cover with its lid and then refrigerate. with the hung curd you can now proceed to make the shrikhand.
8. You want the rice to really cook well and the kheer also thickened somewhat.

How to make shrikhand:

1. Take ½ tbsp warm milk in a small bowl. add 2 pinch of saffron strands. stir and keep aside.
2. In a mortar powder 4 to 5 green cardamoms. keep aside.
3. Take the chakka or hung curd in a bowl.
4. Add fine sugar. lightly stir with a spatula or spoon. you can also use powdered sugar.
5. Then add the saffron dissolved milk and powdered saffron.
6. Using an electric beater, begin to whip the hung curd. you can also beat the hung yogurt in a blender.
7. Whip till smooth. the sugar should also dissolve. check the taste and add more sugar if required.
8. With a silicon spatula scrape the beaters' sides and edges of the hung curd and add to the bowl.
9. You can chill the shrikhand in fridge and later serve. while serving top with some sliced dry fruits. you can also top shrikhand with crushed dry fruits. i added some crushed pistachios for garnish.

Enjoy!