Kesar Pista Shrikhand

It’s Annakut day, the first day of the Indian New Year (lunar calendar)! Saal Mubarak!  This is a common greeting for the new year, with saal meaning year and mubarak meaning good wishes.  Usually, people celebrate by cooking lots of different sweets and savory snacks to take to the temple and share with family and friends. It is tradition that the first item purchased in the new year is salt!  Without salt, food wouldn’t have taste.  Naturally, as a food blogger, salt is one of my most essential items in my pantry 🙂

Above, is my mini Annakut I cooked this year: Nankhatai, Mixed Veg Pakoda, Rose Cheesecake, Paneer Puffs, and Shrikhand . Happy Diwali and Saal Mubarak! 🙂

Shrikhand is a classic Indian dessert made from strained yogurt. Most commonly, it is flavored with saffron (kesar), which gives it the vibrant yellow-orange color and pistachios (pista) add a pop of green! While there is a long inactive time on the recipe, once the yogurt is strained, it only takes a few minutes to flavor and mix the Skrikhand together. The best part is that this recipes only has 5 ingredients!

I used whole milk Greek Yogurt to make Shrikhand. My mom reccomended the full fat version because it makes the Shrikand rich and creamy, and Greek because there will be less water. Strain the yogurt in a cheese cloth for at least 4-8 hours, if possible overnight. Even though there is not a lot of water that will come out of the whole milk Greek yogurt, don’t skip this step. If you do keep the yogurt strained overnight, keep it in a cool location.

Once the yogurt is strained, it will look like the image above. Just plop it into a bowl, and then mix in the sugar, saffron, and cardamom. Garnish with pistachios or mix some in as well. The saffron will release more color with time.

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Kesar Pista Shrikand

Course Dessert

Cuisine Indian

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Inactive Time 12 hours hours

Total Time 12 hours hours 15 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Equipment

• cheesecloth

Ingredients

• 16 oz Whole Milk Plain Greek Yogurt
• 1/3 cup powder sugar
• 1/4 tsp saffron
• 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
• chopped pistachios for garnishing

Instructions

• Place the yogurt in a cheese cloth and strain for at least 4-8 hours, if possible overnight.
• Transfer the strained yogurt into a mixing bowl.
• Mix in sugar, saffron, and cardamom.
• Garnish with pistachios.
• Enjoy!