Jonesing for mangoes 🥠🥠- Part I
I have written in detail before about falling in love with the mango and the many pleasures it offers, while also acknowledging the fruit's complicated politics in my family. It took an unlikely dessert -- shrikhand -- to make me fall in love with it.
I mention unlikely because I haven't grown up eating yogurt (or curd as we call it here) as/for dessert, with spoonfuls of sugar or yogurt with granola and fruits. To me yogurt was savoury -- to be eaten with rice and pickle, to be added in curries, or drunk as a digestif, thinned down with plenty of water along with salt and asafoetida for taste. That's where it made the most sense.
'Taste' here is subjective, as it is everywhere. But not in a very generic sense of the term. No one comes by 'taste' alone -- it is most definitely an indication of social factors of influence, such as class, caste, religion, to name a few. I remember being introduced to French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu at university, as one of the most authoritative figures on the study of culture and capital, who also most famously noted (in his 1984 book Distinction) that 'taste' was a marker of class. Of course, Bourdieu's thinking drew upon France of the time, and is heavily Eurocentric no doubt, but his theory is insightful. It's why cooking styles and the conferring of 'statuses' such as 'high cuisine' or 'low cuisine' are related to social distinction or why certain cooking techniques are said to be essential to a chef. Food is not only incorporated into the body in highly class-specific ways but also in terms of caste, religion, nationality and so on. The body, therefore, is both an instrument and is the materialisation of tastes, shaped by social and cultural distinctions.
What was an unlikely taste to me for 25 years -- mango and sweet yogurt, among other foods -- has now become something of a comfort. Talking about 'taste' without mentioning the privilege and (some amount of) cultural capital that I possess is pointless. It no doubt had a lasting impact on my habits, food and otherwise; choices; and tastes. What seems like a veneer for naturalness, authenticity and aesthetic, is simply an individual's (mine including) ties to their background; to their web of social, cultural, and material connections. That unlikeliness of something as pointless as mango and yogurt didn't come 'naturally' to me as much as rice and yogurt did. It just became one that I adopted. Hopefully it's one you adopt as well.
Amrakhand cheesecake / Mango yogurt cheesecake
Ingredients
For just amrakhand as dessert
- 2 cups of natural/Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup mango pulp
- 5 tsp cardamom powder; or 5 pounded pods
- Powdered sugar to taste
- Sieve with a handle
- Cheesecloth/handkerchief/kitchen towel
- Chopped nuts for garnish
Take a large bowl (large enough to fit your sieve/colander/strainer) and set the sieve on top, lining the sieve with the kitchen towel. Pour the yogurt into the towel, bring the ends of the cloth together to tie it into a tight knot (if it's a large towel, wring it before tying a knot). You can see the whey starting to separate and drain into the bowl. Put this whole assembly into the refrigerator and leave it overnight or, if you can, for a day. Remove the towel once all the whey has filtered through, and scrape the thick yogurt -- at this point, it'll resemble mascarpone -- into a large bowl. Add the powdered sugar and mango pulp, and keep folding till it looks really smooth and homogenous. Add the powdered cardamom and mix once more. Chill in the fridge for 3-4 hours till it's set and serve with nuts on top. This is an understated dessert but extremely rewarding if you plan ahead.
Notes
- This is also flavoured with saffron, but I've omitted it here. Just before whipping the thick strained yogurt, you can soak a few strands of saffron in a tbsp of warm milk, and then add it when you add the cardamom powder.
- You could omit the mango and just flavour the shrikhand with cardamom and saffron. Or just cardamom. Or cardamom and rose water.
- This is a great dessert by itself. But it's traditionally eaten with hot puris. I've had it on hot white toast, and it's excellent.
- Shrikhand has a similar texture to mascarpone -- after all, they're both strained similarly -- so, not to be blasphemous (but maybe just a little), you could make shrikhand tiramisu? I made shrikhand cheesecake, the recipe is below.
- I haven't tried this using vegan yogurt. If you do, let me know?
For the amrakhand cheesecake (makes 4 individual servings in ramekins)
Ingredients
- 2 cups of natural/Greek yogurt
- 3 tbsp cream cheese/heavy cream
- 1/2 cup mango pulp
- 5 tsp cardamom powder; or 5 pounded pods
- Powdered sugar to taste
- Sieve with a handle
- Cheesecloth/handkerchief/kitchen towel
- A packet of digestive biscuits/butter cookies; or 16 biscuits
- 8 tsp of melted butter/ghee
- 2 tsp salt
For one individual cheesecake
Strain the yogurt as instructed above, a day or two in advance. Powder four biscuits and mix with two spoons of melted butter and the tiniest pinch of salt. Pour into ramekin and press with your fingers till it becomes a solid base. Chill till you make the amrakhand-cheesecake mixture. Take the strained yogurt out of the fridge and scrape into a bowl. Before adding the powdered sugar and mango pulp, add the cream cheese/heavy cream and beat till both are mixed well. Now add the sugar, mango pulp and cardamom powder and fold till soft peaks. Pour this mixture into the cheesecake base and freeze for an hour till it sets. After an hour/after it sets, remove the ramekin from the freezer and into the refrigerator to chill. Remove after an hour or so and eat.
Notes
- I made the amrakhand mixture with strained yogurt, cream cheese, and malai (the cream that collects on top after boiling milk and letting it cool) and it turned out well. I can only imagine that it must be much better and lighter with heavy cream.
- The mangoes I used were Banganapalli and the colour isn't the same as what an Alphonso or a Kesar can give. And I garnished this with...more mangoes.
- Where I live, it's always searing hot. So I have to freeze desserts, which means they inevitably fall prey to freezer burn and melt almost immediately when I take them out.
- If you're not keen on all the freezing and chilling, you could just make a parfait instead.
- Will this recipe outrage some Indian aunties? Maybe just.
Miscellaneous
- Pooja Pillai of The Indian Express also has an easy shrikhand recipe up, and it looks luscious.
- For part 2 of the mango issue, it's a toss up between sweet mango rasam or raw mango pickle. A picture of the latter that I put up on Twitter seems to be winning? Write to me if you have any preferences? It'll make my job easier!
- If you're in Mumbai/Pune and you can get your hands on Chitale's shrikhand, well done. It is unanimously the best shrikhand to ever exist, unless your grandmother/mother can make a better one. In which case please call me, I'll be there with two spoons.
- Shrikhand has claim from two states, Maharashtra and Gujarat, in India as to where it originated. According to the Handbook of Fermented Functional Foods, it supposedly originated in western India around 400 BC. KT Achaya, Indian's most eminent food historian, writes in his Indian Food: A Historical Companion that mentions of shrikhand was found in writings on Kannada food around 1025 AD.
- Unrelated: Amidst everything, it was my birthday last week. Let me dedicate this song, which has been on repeat all week, to you. Take care!
I would love to hear from you — idea, shoutout, or just a chat about Shelf Offering. Reach me at seriouscheats@gmail.com.