Homemade Shrikhand Recipe
Indian Sweets - Festival Foods

This Shrikhand Recipe is a popular recipe from the western Indian states of Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Shrikhand is becoming known and popular all over the world because of the wonderful taste and ease in making.

This shrikhand recipe is one of the easiest of the Indian sweet recipes. There are many yogurt recipes but Srikhand is my favorite.

Shrikhand - Indian sweet/ dessert

Shrikhand is also one of the many favorite festival foods.

As I said, shrikhand is one of the easiest recipes.

Nothing tricky, so you are not likely to spoil it even when you are making it first time.

Though the process is a bit long, it is simple. There is no cooking to be done.

You can make srikhand and keep it in the fridge for a week or longer. So it is a great sweet or desert recipe to use for parties.

It is served as a dessert or served with poories. It also goes well with chapaties.

Homemade Shrikhand - srikhand

The process of making srikhand

For making shrikhand, if you are starting with milk, you need to start the day before as curd - yogurt, takes time to set , about 6 to 8 hours in the Indian weather, longer if you are living in a cold place.

You need to go through the steps given below to make yogurt. If you have the curd - yogurt ready (either homemade or store bought) you will need about 4-5 hours to get shrikhand ready.

Step 1 -> Milk

Step 2 -> make plain homemade yogurt (curd/dahi)

Step 3 -> Make chakka (hung/strained yogurt)

Step 4 - > make shrikhand

The making of shrikhand starts with milk. You can make the yogurt at home or get it ready from the store and follow the instructions to make chakka and then to make shrikhand.

If you are planning to make curd at home, Go to How to make yogurt at home , if don't know how to make yogurt at home yourself.

After you have the yogurt ready, make chakka with your yogurt. And then make srikhand with chakka.

How to make chakka for shrikhand with yogurt.

Main ingredients for

Ingredients for making chakka

Yogurt - 1 lt.

A muslin cloth or a bag made with muslin cloth. You can also use a coffee maker strainer with a thin mesh. Make sure it doesn't smell of coffee.

How to make chakka

Spread the muslin cloth over a bowl. Carefully pour the thick curd-yogurt on it.
Lift up carefully and tie the ends together and hang it over the sink so that the water drains.
You may also hang it over a vessel to collect the water from yogurt. The water is nutritious and can be used for something else such a making dough for chapati, adding to kadhi, making buttermilk etc.
You need to hang the curd for 6-8 hours, till most of the water is drained. This strained and drained / hung curd is called chakka which we will use for making shrikhand.
This chakka will keep well in the freezer for months so you can make shrikhand when you want.

Ingredients for making 2-3 servings.

Chakka (as made above) - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/2 or 3/4cup according to taste.
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Nutmeg powder - a pinch
Saffron - 1/2tsp
Milk - 2 tbsp
Dry fruits chopped fine (almonds, cashew, pistachio ) - 1 tbsp

How to make shrikhand at home

Mix sugar with chakka. Stir once in a while till the sugar dissolves. You may also use powdered sugar so it dissolve fast.
Put it in a blender to get a smooth consistency. You may also use a hand blender.
Warm the milk and soak saffron in it for a few minutes. Add to the sugar chakka mixture.
Add the cardamom and nutmeg powder.
Add the mixuter of the chopped nuts. Mix well.

Shrikhand is ready to serve as a dessert or as a sweet accompaniment for poori or chapatti. Serve it at room temperature or chilled.

Tips and variations

Once the shrikhand is done, it should be refrigerated, otherwise it may get sour. It will keep in the fridge for long.
If you live in a hot place, while draining, keep it in the fridge with a vessel to collect water below. Chakka made with Fresh curd tastes best. But you can also add any leftover curd to make chakka as long as it is not sour. If it is too sour, you will need to add more sugar to balance the sourness.