East meets West -Ginger and Mango Jelly with Mango Shrikand (Indian yogurt dessert)

In the UK the yogurt council  launched for the first time Yogurt week during May. This was to bring awareness to the public about the health benefits of yogurt. Yogurt is one of my favourite ingredients and I use it daily in a lot of my cooking. The yogurt council have announced a competition to create and style a yogurt recipe I am very excited to enter. This is my entry for #yogurtstylist competition hosted by yogurt council.

Jelly is commonly known in the west and I am sure that everyone must have eaten it at some stage or other in their lifetime. On the other hand you may not have heard of Shrikand. This is an Indian sweet that accompanies a Gujarati thali in any traditional Gujarati meal. Shrikand is prepared with hung yogurt that is sweetened with sugar and flavoured with cardamom, nuts and fruits and served as an accompaniment to a main meal. It's rich and creamy taste helps to counter act the spiciness of the curries that are served in a thali.

Fragrant ginger and mango jelly with rich creamy Mango Shrikand (Indian yogurt dessert)

Ingredients:

Ginger and Mango Jelly

1 heaped tablespoon agar agar flakes
250 ml water
2 mangoes peeled, de stoned and diced
1 small  1cm cube of fresh ginger
2 tablespoons sugar(adjust depending on sweetness of mango)

For Mango Shrikand

900 g thick natural Greek yogurt
4 heaped tablespoons icing sugar
1 teaspoon cardamom powder
10 almonds flaked
10 pistachio  nuts flaked
4 edible red rose petals
1 mango peeled de stoned and diced

Method:

To make Shrikand

1. Line a colander with a muslin cloth and pour the Greek yogurt into it. Gently bring the corners of the cloth together and twist them. Place the colander in a large bowl to catch any water drips from the yogurt and leave it aside for 3-4 hours.
2. After 4 hours, open the muslin cloth and scoop out all the yogurt and place it in a bowl.(This is called hung yogurt) Discard the water that has dripped from the yogurt.
3. To the yogurt add the icing sugar and cardamom and fold the sugar in to the yogurt. Once all the sugar has been folded in the yoghurt place the Shrikand in the fridge to chill.
4. Place the mango in a blender and purée it until its smooth. Transfer the mango purée to another bowl and chill in the fridge.

To make the jelly:

5. Place the water and agar agar and the ginger into a large saucepan and simmer the water until the agar agar is totally dissolved.Remove the ginger and discard.
6. Reserve 1/3 of the mango pieces and keep them to one side.
7. Place the remaining mango pieces in to a blender jug  with the sugar and purée the mango until its smooth. 8. Add the puréed mango to the pan with the agar agar mixture and simmer for 3-4 minutes until agar agar is totally dissolved.
9. Strain the mixture into a jug and leave it to cool slightly 2-3 minutes only.(mixture will begin to set if left too long)
10. Add a few pieces of mango in each serving glass and pour the jelly into 4 serving glasses, filling them  two thirds full. too. Leave the jelly to cool and  when it reaches room temperature place the serving glasses in the fridge to chill and set.
11. Once jelly is set remove serving glasses from fridge and place them on the table .
12. Take the yoghurt Shrikand  and  mango purée out of the fridge.
13. Into the yogurt Shrikand add 3 tablespoons of purée, gently fold the purée into the Srikand forming a ripple effect.Do not over mix.
14 Spoon the mango Shrikand on top on the glasses filled with ginger mango jelly.
15 Garnish with a few mango pieces, the pistachio and almond flakes and torn rose petals,

Serve immediately chilled.