Shahi Tukda or Shahi Tukra literally translates to a “Royal Piece”. And as the name implies, it quite literally is royal in every regard. Rich in calories, taste, aroma and dare I say looks, this recipe would make you think its a difficult one to make. In reality, this is one of the simplest desserts from the lands of India/Pakistan and literally takes about 20 to 30 minutes to complete. 

 Shahi Tukda is made by frying bread slices and cooking them in a thickened saffron, cardamom infused milk. It’s a very popular Hyderabadi / Awadhi cuisine and it is usually served after authentic regal meals and is quite popular during Eid and Ramadan. It’s right on the list of top fav. Pakistani desserts, which btw also includes Rasmalai and Gajar ka halwa.

This rich and royal dessert is also known as Double ka meetha and a lot of people know Shahi tukda by this name. But, enough background, let’s get started!

INGREDIENTS FOR SHAHI TUKRA RECIPE

I am trying out this thing, where I put up all the ingredients in a collage for you guys to see. Let’s see how you guys like it. So the ingredients are pretty simple and pantry friendly. (ok maybe not Saffron but the rest is) Let’s dig right into a little step by step. 

STEP BY STEP PLAY FOR SHAHI TUKDA RECIPE

STEP 1 – FRYING THE BREAD

Start by cutting the crusts off the bread and cutting each slice into 4 triangles. (I mean this is THE official cut, but you know, go crazy)

Ideally, in the authentic shahi tukda recipe, this bread is deep fried in oil or ghee, however, I prefer to  shallow fry each batch of bread in around 1 tbsp of ghee. Most of the calories in this dish comes from the deep frying and when we skip that, viola! We’ve successfully cut down half the calories from our entire dessert. (And it doesn’t even taste any different)

I just add 1 tbsp of ghee to a non-stick fry pan and add the bread slices. I flip the bread almost immediately so that both sides of the bread are evenly coated with the ghee. .

Then I just fry the bread on both sides until it turns golden brown. Then I repeat the process for all the slices and pile them up in a plate.

STEP 2 – MAKING THE RABRI/CUSTARD

In the same frying pan, add 5 cups of milk. (Obviously make sure that your pan has that much capacity, or just go with a different pot)

Add in your saffron strands, green cardamon powder and sugar and let the milk cook at medium to low flame for about 10 minutes.

(A pan with a large surface area works best for this, as the milk will reduce quickly.)

After about 10 to 15 minutes, your milk would have reduced by 20% or more and turned a light yellow color because of the saffron strands added to it. 

This is a good point to check the sugar level in your milk and add more if needed. 

Remember, the sweetness will get diluted slightly when it’ll be paired with the bread, so you want to keep this pretty sweet.

STEP 3 – ASSEMBLING

Take out the dish you want to set up your Shahi Tukdas in.  Now start adding the fried bread slices to the boiling milk.

Let the bread soak in the milk for about 2 to 3 minutes and flip the bread over and give another 2 minutes. Remove the slices and start dishing them out on your serving tray or dish. Repeat the process with all the bread slices. 

The bread will be soft at this point, so use a flat spatula or a flipper to pick them up.

After you’ve repeated the process with all the slices, you will be left with a thick little mixture of the milk. Add half a cup of cream to this mixture and let it cook for another 2 minutes.

Turn off the flame and pour this remaining thickened milk all over your Bread slices. 

And TADA you’ve made it! Now just sprinkle some nice slices of almonds and pistachio all over it and you are good to go! I like adding grind up pistachios more so that’s what I top my Shahi Tukdas with. 

Serve them up hot if you like. Or you could cover them up with a cling wrap, refrigerate them and serve them up later.

Ideally, they taste best at room temperature. So I always take my tray out of the fridge 20 minutes before serving them. And lastly, they can stay for up to a week in the fridge! 

RECIPE ALTERATIONS

If you want the full blown effect of the deep fried bread, you can go ahead and deep fry those bread slices rather than shallow frying them, although I personally don’t find any difference in taste whatsoever

The measurements in this recipe are perfect to serve 8 to 10 people easily. However, if you want to make it in a smaller quantity, just reduce the measurement by half and you are good to go. 

Oh and also, if you like Pakistani/Indian desserts, check out my Gajar ka halwa (carrot halwa) recipe too! You will love it!

Traditional shahi tukda recipe – Pakistani / Indian Bread pudding 

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Shahi Tukda Recipe | Pakistani/ Indian Bread Pudding

Yield: 28 pieces (14 servings)

Prep Time: 4 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 29 minutes

A traditional Mughal Era hyderabadi/Awadhi dessert made by Golden frying bread slices, and later soaking in cardamom and saffron infused milk.

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Ingredients

• (200 gms) 4 heaped tbsp of ghee
• 7 slices of bread
• 5 cups of milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup of thick cream or fresh cream
• 1 tsp green cardamom powder (elaichi powder)
• A pinch of dry saffron strands

Instructions

1. Remove the crusts from bread slices and cut each slice in 4 triangles
2. In a large non stick fry pan add about 1 tbsp of ghee at medium flame. Add as many bread triangles as you can fit into the pan. Toss and turn the bread slices to make sure they are coated with ghee from all sides. You can add more ghee if needed.
3. Fry the bread until they turn golden brown and remove them from the pan. Repeat the process for all the bread pieces.
4. In the same frying pan, add milk, sugar, cardamom powder and saffron strands at medium flame.
5. Allow the milk to cook for around 10 minutes and turn a yellow shade.
6. Bring out the dish you want to plate your Shahi Tukdas in.
7. Start adding bread slices to your bubbling milk and let them cook for 2 minutes. Turn the bread slices over and allow them to cook in the milk for another 2 to 3 minutes.
8. Take out the bread slices from the milk and start arranging them in your serving dish. (Be careful as the slices will be a little soft at this point)
9. Repeat the process for all the bread slices.
10. Add cream to the left over milk and let it cook for another 2 minutes.
11. Turn off the flame and stir the milk for another 2 minutes.
12. Cover the bread with this creamy milk mixture.
13. Sprinkle pistachio and almond slivers and serve.

Notes

Serving and Reserving

Serve them immediately if you like to eat them warm.

Although, they are best served at room temperature. Cover them and refrigerate them for as long as you want. And take them out of the fridge 20 minutes before serving.

They can stay in the fridge for up to a week.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 14 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 210Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 28mgSodium: 125mgCarbohydrates: 27gFiber: 0gSugar: 15gProtein: 5g