Perfect Homemade Curd Desserts - 2 Ways

They say, it’s the little things in life you should take pride in and feel happy about, and to me, being able to make thick and creamy homemade curd meant just that.

I love curd, but I’m not very particular that I have it every day. I love it with rice and curry, and I love the thick and creamier version in particular. Until a week ago, I was a loser at making good homemade curd; yes I had my trials, a couple of times and it didn’t really come out the way I expected it to. Sometimes it had whey all over (I think you get what I’m trying to say) and sometimes, it’s just alright but not thick or creamy enough; so I left it there. Even when milk packets were getting piled up in the refrigerator and advice pouring in from all fours sides, I still hesitated to turn it into curd. To top it, he completed it with statements like, “you can make pizza but not curd?”. May be I was too bogged down with failure; well, I know, it can’t get sillier than this, but that’s the fact.

Last week he mentioned about Shrikhand (chilled curd dessert) and for what I know that happens to be one of his favourites! So I made up my mind to get back to making homemade curd and do I thank my star alignment or what, it came out PERFECT. Then I made more batches of it and each time, it kept on getting better– cutting into a bowlful of thick creamy curd is like… heaven! So within a week, it seemed like I was becoming a pro at this and this week, I made two desserts with homemade curd; from a loser to a pro, in a week? That’s way too cool! :P

Hung curd was just another revelation and happens to be the main ingredient in most of the curd based desserts. And the effort you put in is nothing; all you need to do is to filter the whey from curd using a muslin cloth (preferably overnight) and there you have something that will put Greek Yogurt to shame! Seriously!

So now with the star ingredient in hand, I had to show off a bit and the result?

Shrikhand

I hung about 500 grams of curd overnight and next day beat it with about 1.5 tablespoon (we prefer it less sweet) of sugar using an egg beater for about 5 minutes. To this, added a tablespoon of saffron milk and cardamom powder for flavour. That’s it, transfer to a fancy bowl and serve chilled.

Frozen Yogurt (with no ice cream maker)

This time, I hung about 1500 grams of curd overnight. Next day beat it with ¼ cup sugar using an egg beater for about 5 minutes. You could add flavours too, but I kept it plain. Remove the beaten creamy curd to a container for freezing. Take it out and beat for 3-5 minutes, every 2 hours, for at least 3 times. Once done, leave it in the freezer for 5-6 hours and later move it to normal fridge. Scoop it out, top it with some chocolate shavings and there you have a much healthier ice cream to enjoy!