Jihva for Strawberries - Shrikhand

Inspiration didn't come as easily the second time around! I thought long and hard but couldn't narrow down on a strawberry dish that excited me enough. Cupcake, shortcake, mousse..... isn't there an Indian dessert with strawberries? Not really. It is an exotic fruit for us after all. In Bombay strawberries come to the market from Mahableshwar which is for that reason called the 'strawberry capital of Maharashtra'.

Go to the place at the right time and you can eat fresh strawberries straight off the farms; in fact you can satiate all your strawberry cravings if you so wish, because everyone in town seems to be selling strawberry milkshakes, fudge or jams.

Coming back to Jihva, I realized I didn't need to look far for ideas. Inspiration was right around the corner. Literally. For years folks in my parts of the city were loyal only to the original, saffron shrikhand; it took a while even for the mango version to gain access to the club (only because I suspect we knew mango went well with everything).

But then a new store opened in our neighbourhood, one so keen on "experimenting" that it introduced such mind boggling flavors as butter scotch, fig, pineapple and strawberry. At first we frowned, then we tried a bit out of curiosity, then we tried some more just to be sure, then well, then we became converts! Last time I checked, if you wanted strawberry shrikhand you had to place an order the day before!

STRAWBERRY SHRIKHAND
8-10 medium sized strawberries
1 32 oz. tub of plain Greek yogurt/ about 3-4 cups
3/4 cup sugar
2-3 tbsp honey
6-8 cardamoms
finely sliced pistachios
slivered almonds/ charoli

Spoon yogurt into a clean cheese cloth, tie into a knot and suspend the 'pouch' from your kitchen faucet for 4-5 hours OR place in a colander with a bowl underneath and keep in the refrigerator. Remove the drained, thick yogurt into a mixing bowl.

Slice the stems off the berries, halve them and put in a blender. Pulse for a few minutes. Strain the pulp to get a smooth syrup and add to yogurt. Stir in sugar and honey and whisk the mixture until it dissolves. A hand blender works well here.

Peel the cardamoms and crush to a fine powder in a mortar and pestle. Add to yogurt and whisk again. Cover and chill shrikhand until it is ready to serve. Sprinkle with pistachios and almonds before serving.

* I found using a combination of sugar and honey tastes better but you can use either as the sole sweetener. Remember to adjust the amount to your taste and the sweetness of the berries.
* For mango shrikhand (amrakhand) use mango pulp

Tags: indian dessert yogurt shrikhand strawberry cardamom