Easy Healthy Shrikhand

I visited my aunt this past month. After a long drive we came home to a yummy Konkani dinner. For dessert she had made Shrikhand,a popular dessert in Maharashtra. Its a sweet yogurt pudding made with strained yogurt and saffron. There are many variations to the shrikhand like adding mango puree to it to make what is called "amrakhand". Since my Uncle and aunt are very health conscious in their diet, this shrikhand was fat free and sugar free AND it was delicious. I couldn't taste the Splenda in it or even tell it was fat free (no believe me i'm the first one to detect the fat free versions of dishes:this one you can't tell). Try it yourself if you don't believe me. This recipe uses a store bought greek yogurt (which is strained) cutting the time to make this dish down by almsot 70 percent.

Ingredients (serves 2)

1 small package 0% fat greek strained yogurt (look for it in your organic/health food section in the grocery store), cheaper variety is available in walmart in the yogurt aisle



5 to 6 strands of saffron, a little goes a long way, the picture shows more saffron because I had doubled the recipe
1 tblsp milk
3 tblsp splenda (or 4 to 5 tblsp sugar)
1 tblsp shelled pistachios, blanched and chopped

Lightly toast saffron. Add 1 tblsp warm milk to the saffron and let it sit.

Empty yogurt into a bowl. Add saffron-milk mixture and splenda. Blend with an electric whisker for a few seconds, the yogurt will become creamy. Add pistachios and mix. Refrigerate for atleast an hour. Mix well before serving. For amrakhand, omit saffron and reduce sugar or splenda by half. Add 4 to 5 tblsp of mango puree and blend.