Shahi Tukda Made Simple: Quick Dessert Recipe for a Royal Treat

A rich, royal and indulgent dessert, the shahi tukda originates from the Mughlai cuisine. It's a delectable dessert, from the ghee-fried bread to the scented sugar syrup and the chilled rabri on top. All these components, when come together, create a festival in the mouth. It's a coming together of different flavors and textures that work in great harmony with each other. Here’s how you can make this surprisingly easy dish yourself.

Ingredients:

For the rabri:

• 1 litre whole milk
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk powder, optional
• ¼ teaspoon green cardamom powder
• 1 tablespoon masala milk powder
• 1 teaspoon kewra water (pandanus water) or 1 teaspoon rose water
• 15 saffron strands or 1 to 2 pinches of saffron powder

For the sugar syrup:

• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder or 3 to 4 green cardamoms powdered in mortar pestle

To pan fry the bread:

• 6 slices bread – white or brown
• 2 tablespoons Ghee (clarified butter) – 1 tablespoon for frying each batch of bread, add more if required

For garnish:

• 15 almonds – blanched and sliced
• 15 saffron strands – optional
• 12 pistachios – blanched and sliced

Directions:

• Heat a cup of water till it comes to a boil. Add the pistachios and almonds to it. Turn off the heat and cover the bowl. Set aside for 30 minutes. Then peel the nuts and slice them finely. Set aside.
• In a pan or kadhai, add the milk and bring it to a boil. Keep stirring the milk every once in a while or the milk at the bottom will get burnt.
• Then add the milk powder. If you don't have any on hand, you can skip this step, it's not essential.
• Then add the saffron and cardamom powder.
• Remove the malai that forms on the top and stick it to the sides of the pan. Keep stirring the milk at intervals so that it does not burn. Keep collecting the malai on the side. Once the milk has reduced to ⅓ of the original quantity, add the sugar. Stir so it will dissolve. Then turn off the heat, gather all the malai collected on the sides, and push it back into the milk. Then add the rose water and the sliced almonds and pistachios. Set aside.
• Slice the crusts of the bread and cut the bread into triangles. In a pan, heat some ghee and place the bread slices on it. The heat should be set to medium. After one side has browned, turn over and heat on the other side. Keep flipping till both sides are a sizzling golden brown. Then drain the slices on paper towels. Set all the toast pieces aside.
• In a pan, add sugar and water on low heat. It will soon start to boil. Stir occasionally so that the sugar doesn't stick to the bottom and burn. Keep stirring till the syrup comes to a one-string consistency. This means that when the tip of the index finger is dipped in the syrup and then the thumb is pressed to the finger and then pulled apart, a string of the syrup forms between the two fingers. Then turn off the heat, add the cardamom powder, and mix it in well.
• Dip the bread slices in the sugar syrup. Use a spoon to coat the slices completely and evenly with the syrup. Arrange the slices nicely on a serving plate, each overlapping the other from the top. Pour the rabri on top of the slices. Garnish with the blanched almonds and pistachios. Also, add varak if desired.
• Serve immediately or store in the fridge.

Notes, tips and tricks:

• You can use any type of bread, white, brown or whole wheat bread. But don't use a seed bread or a bread crusted with oats or a sourdough. Avoid any of those fancy bread varieties and opt for a simple bread loaf.
• If you want an authentic taste, fry the bread slices in good-quality ghee. Don't use oil or some other way fat to fry it, since this will really affect the taste of the shahi tukda. For a rich and indulgent dessert like the shahi tukda, you want pure desi ghee.
• For the rabri, use whole milk or full-fat milk. The skimmed or 2% won't have the same effect and will affect the taste and texture of the rabri, and finally the shahi tukda.
• You can make the rabri one day before and keep it prepped.