Creamy Saffron Yoghurt Recipe

It's not just Halloween today, the celebration of Diwali (Festival of Lights) also begins to day. Diwali isn't just November 5th, it's a week-long celebration. So, to mark that here is a recipe for  traditional Indian dessert that's creamy and flavourful and which makes and excellent Diwali treat.

This is a very simple to prepare, yet quite an indulgent and richly flavoured dessert, ideal for Diwali. The saffron also gives it that extra-special colour and indescribable flavour.

Indeed, this dessert is so good you could prepare and serve it for any special occasion.

Creamy Saffron Yoghurt Recipe

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

700g (1 lb 9 oz) Greek yoghurt (or your favourite set yogurt)
2 tsp green cardamom pods (extract the seeds)
10 saffron threads
1 tsp milk
1 tbsp shelled pistachio nuts, slivered
ripe mango, sliced, to garnish

Method:

Line a large, fine-meshed sieve with muslin. Set this over a bowl then spoon in the yoghurt and cover with a second piece of muslin. Put this aside to drain at room temperature for about 30 minutes (this allows the extra moisture to drain away).

Crush the cardamom seeds in a mortar. Scrape the drained yoghurt into a bowl. Stir in the sugar and mix in the ground cardamom. Mix the saffron strands with the milk and stir this into the yoghurt mixture.

Divide the resultant yoghurt mixture between six small glasses. Scatter over the pistachio nuts and serve with the fresh mango slices on the side.