Shrikhand

Shrikhand is an Indian sweet dish made of strained yogurt. Often served with Puri. Shrikhand has a thick creamy consistency. It is rich, smooth and sweet.
To make Shrikhand I either us full fat Greek yogurt or the 10% fat
Turkish yogurt. I also like to mix it with the full fat plain yogurt as this provides a slight tang to the flavour. Saffron is also added for flavour,

Shrikhand

1 kg Greek/Turkish Yogurt
500gm plain full fat yogurt
1½/ 2cups castor sugar
½tsp elachi/cardamom powder
A pinch of Saffron (optional)
Almonds blanched, peeled and sliced
Pistachios blanched, peeled and roughly ground

Method

• Tie the yogurt in a piece of muslin and place in a sieve overnight over a bowl, in a refrigerator, to drain.
• Transfer the drained yogurt into a mixing bowl. I use my Kenwood chef.
• Add the sugar in small batches and whisk, until all the sugar has dissolved.
• If using saffron mix it with a tbls of milk and add to Shrikhand
• Add the elachi/cardamom powder; mix well and chill in the refrigerator.
• Serve chilled, decorated with the almonds and pistachios.

Toffee Apples

So who invented the toffee apple?
According to one source, American William W. Kolb invented the red toffee apple.
Kolb, a sweet-maker, produced his first batch of toffee apples in 1908.
While experimenting in his sweet shop with red cinnamon candy for the Christmas trade, he dipped some apples into the mixture and put them in the windows for display. He sold the whole first batch for 5 cents each and later sold thousands yearly.

Here in the United Kingdom, toffee apples are more commonly eaten on Halloween and November 5th which is Bonfire Night (Guy Fawkes Night) as these festivals fall after the annual apple harvest. Whereas in the US they are eaten on Halloween.

Best apples to use are Russets, Cox, Granny Smiths or Galas.
8-10 apples
400g golden caster sugar
1 tsp vinegar
4 tbsp golden syrup
Red food colouring

Wash and dry thoroughly the apples. Push a wooden skewer, chopstick or lolly stick into the stalk end of each apple

Cover a baking tray with baking parchment and keep it close to your cooker.
Place the sugar into a pan with 100ml water and place over a medium heat. Place a sugar thermometer in to the sugar. Cook for 5 mins or until the sugar dissolves, then stir in the vinegar. Red food colouring and syrup.

Boil the mixture on a medium heat till it reaches 150C or 'hard crack' stage (If you don’t have a thermometer pouring a little of the toffee into a bowl of cold water. It should harden instantly and be brittle and easy to break).

Carefully and quickly dip each apple in the hot toffee until covered, let any excess drip away, then place on the baking parchment to harden.