Step 1

Place a colander or strainer over a large tall bowl to collect the whey. Spread a clean muslin or cheese cloth over the strainer.

Step 2

Add curd to the cloth. Bring all the edges together. Squeeze out the excess whey from the curd.

Step 3

Wrap the curd in the cloth and tie it with one of the edges to make a knot.

Step 4

Method 1: Place the bundle of yogurt over the strainer/ colander with the tall bowl beneath. Place an heavy object over the yogurt so all of the whey drains to the bowl beneath. Ensure the colander does not touch the drained whey in the bowl.

Step 5

Method 2: Place the bundle of curd in between a thick large absorbent towel or cloth. Transfer this to a plate and place a heavy object over the curd. I use my cast iron pan.

Step 6

Transfer this to the refrigerator. For the first method you have to leave it in the fridge 15 to 18 hours. For the second method, leave it for 1 hour.

Step 7

Drained super thick hung curd or chakka will be ready after the whey has been drained completely.

Step 8

Soak saffron in 1 tbsp hot water or hot milk.

Step 9

Powder the sugar and set aside. If you do not have cardamom powder, add the cardamom pods to the grinder along with sugar and grind to a fine powder.

Step 10

Remove strained yogurt/ chakka from the cloth and transfer to a mixing bowl. Most of the whey would have been drained. Save this for later use, you can use it to make roti dough, bread dough or pancake batter.

Step 11

Add saffron infused milk, powdered sugar and cardamom powder.

Step 12

Whisk it well with a metal whisk until really smooth. If you are making in smaller quantities, then a tablespoon works too. If you are making this in large quantity then you can use a electric beater/ whisk.

Step 13

Serve shrikhand with puri or chill and enjoy as a dessert.

Step 14

Garnish shrikhand with chopped nuts.