Amrakhand Puri

.. coz special occasions need something special!!

Today is a special date 05/06/07.. a special day for me.. and hence posting a special Maharashtrian combo of Amrakhand Puri for RCI Maharashtrian Cuisine!

Amrakhand is a very popular dessert from Maharashtra.. also known as mango flavoured Shrikhand.. The most common brands in Pune for Amrakhand are Chitale Bandhu, Amul, Warana and now Aarti's ;) Thanks to these people, my mother never happened to prepare it at home.. And so this was my first trial at it.. and its really a very very easy task(preparing) and later very very yummy and easy task (finishing off! :D).. Being a milk product, it can also be eaten on fasting days.. Needs some preparation though.. but all the efforts are paid off once you have the first spoonful!! :)

Amrakhand is a popular dessert for Maharashtrian wedding, others being jilebi, bundi laddu, gulabjamun etc.. It can be eaten alone, but then you tend to eat very little. Maharashtrians serve it with hot puffed puris! I served it with simple Puris and batatyachi bhaaji!

Amrakhand Puri

What you need:

500 gm Full Yoghurt

200 gm Kesar Mango Pulp

1 cup Powdered Sugar

1 tsp Powdered Cardamom

1/2 tsp Nutmeg Powder

8-10 strands of Kesar

How to proceed:

1) Place the yoghurt in a thin cloth/odhani and tie it

2) Hang it for 5-6 hours till all water from Yoghurt drains off

3) If there is still some water, place it under something heavy to drain excess water

4) Now remove the yoghurt and add sugar to it and mix well in a large bowl

5) Add cardamom powder, nutmeg powder and kesar to it

6) Finally add mango pulp and mix well

7) Keep to cool in the refridgerator

8) Remove 5-10 mins before serving.

9) Enjoy Amrakhand with hot puris!

To make the most simple Maharashtrian Puris: Add a tsp of turmeric, salt and oil to wheat flour and knead to soft dough. Roll into puris and fry in oil.