Shahi Tukra

• Boil milk in a thick-bottomed pan. On boiling, reduce the flame and boil until the milk reduces to half in volume and is thickened. Stir the milk in between while it simmers.
• Switch off the heat and add sugar to the milk. Stir the milk till sugar dissolves.
• Add the almonds, pistachios, almonds, and saffron to the milk. Cut off the crusts of the bread and cut them into triangles.
• Heat ghee in a flat-bottomed pan. Fry the bread pieces in the ghee on a low flame.
• Flip the bread pieces when they turn brown. Fry the other side of the bread until brown.
• Remove bread from the pan. Place the bread slices in a flat dish in a single layer.
• Pour the thickened, flavored milk over the bread. Sprinkle the powdered cardamom over the bread and let it cool in refrigerator for 2 hours.
• Serve chilled.

It tastes best when served chilled topped with dry fruits. This is a simple dish and takes 45 minutes to make.

Trivia

Shahi Tukra is a Mughlai dish with several interesting theories about its origin. Some believe that Babur brought it with him to India in the sixteenth century. Some believe it is a variation of the Egyptian dish ‘Um Ali’ which is also a kind of bread pudding. In the Hyderabadi cuisine, there is a similar bread-based sweet dish called ‘double ka meetha’. In India, bread is also known as the ‘Double Roti’, hence the name Double ka meetha. Both Shahi Tukra and Double ka meetha are almost similar except that the bread in the Hyderabadi dish is thicker than that used in the shahitukra.