This weekend was extra special as we got to have Vegan Shrikhand for dessert with every meal. Shrikhand is an Indian (Gujarati) sweet dish made with strained yogurt, sweetened with sugar and scented with cardamom and saffron. Its thick and creamy, not unlike the greek yogurt available commercially. Traditionally, yogurt is strained using a muslin cloth and hung to remove the water in order to thicken the yogurt.
This vegan version is made with soy yogurt, which too is home-made. The result was finger-licking good! While the process took me a couple of days, hands-on preparation time was minimal.
Ingredients:
- Soy yogurt – 1 litre or 32 ounces ( I used Westsoy unsweetened soy milk to make my soy yogurt)
- Sugar – ¼ cup, granulated
- Saffron – about 6-8 threads
- non-dairy milk – 1 tbsp
- Cardamom – ¼ tsp, ground
- PIstachip – chopped, 2 tbsps
Strain the soy yogurt overnight or for around 8-10 hours. In order to do this, place a strainer (or a fine meshed colander) over a saucepan and lined the strainer with two layers of cheesecloth (or muslin). Pour the soy yogurt into the strainer.
The yogurt will reduce in volume by at least a third – all the whey will collect in the saucepan below. I am yet to figure out what to do with the whey. Though I have successfully used it to culture my next batch of soy yogurt, along a tablespoon of soy yogurt.
Strained soy yogurt:
Now mix sugar, cardamom and chopped pistachio nuts. Warm the non dairy milk in the microwave for a few seconds and add saffron and rub for a few seconds. Add to strained yogurt mixture and whisk all the ingredients thoroughly well. Keep chilled and enjoy!
