Cooks Joy

Shrikhand is an Indian dessert made from thick yogurt. It is a popular dessert in Gujarati and Maharashtrian cuisine. Thick yogurt is normally obtained by straining regular yogurt over a colander overnight. An easy alternative would be greek yogurt, which is also very high in protein. Normally Shrikhand is made with yogurt, sugar, cardamom and saffron milk. There are some interesting variations and the most popular one being Amarkhand, which is basically Shrikhand + mango puree.

So how did blueberry shrikhand make its presence? Well as I was emptying the freezer when our fridge decided to quit working I spotted these blueberries which I had frozen sometime back. I could not get myself to throw these beauties away and they got transformed into this easy and yummy dessert. I love this dessert mainly because it is easy and uses simple ingredients unlike the finicky ones like mysore pak where if we miss a step the end product is most likely not going to be the same.

There is another reason to post this too. K had been saying for the past couple of weeks that I need to post something simple or something non-Indian. With the festivals around the corner I have been busy making snacks and kozhukattais and I had no time to bake or do anything non-Indian. Glancing at my drafts I found this simple recipe and decided to bring it to light. So let us enjoy the festive season with some sweet shall we?

Ingredients
1 cup greek yogurt or hung yogurt (see notes)

4 tbsp sugar (adjust according to taste)

1/4 cup blueberries pureed

Cardamom (Optional)

Pista, cashew to garnish

Notes
1. To get hung yogurt, take yogurt and place in a muslin cloth over a colander and let it drip overnight in the fridge. I have the pictorial here. For 1 cup hung yogurt I used 4 cups fat free yogurt.
2. Strawberries or mangoes can be used instead of blueberries.

Method
Take the blueberries in a blender. Fresh or frozen can be used. If frozen allow to thaw for say 30 minutes.