Shahi tukra

A dish with roots in the kitchens of the Mughal Empire, shahi tukra is a dessert made with slices of bread and creamy saffron-infused milk. Kishwar Chowdhury's version uses raisin bread.

• serves

  6

• prep

  5 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

I’ve always thought of shahi tukra as the amped-up, South Asian equivalent of bread and butter pudding. Literally translating to ‘royal piece’, it’s a dessert rich not only in texture but in history, with its roots in the grand kitchens of the Mughal Empire. The Nawabs loved decadent spices such as saffron and dried fruits like sultanas, using them in both their sweet and savoury recipes.

The classic preparation involves deep-frying slices of bread in ghee, soaking them in sugar syrup, and layering with saffron-infused, creamy malai milk. My take sticks to the traditional malai, but replaces the usual white bread with raisin bread. I don’t want to call this a shortcut; rather, it’s a natural horizontal step that stems from my love of heavily buttered raisin toast. With the raisins already baked into the bread, along with notes of warm toasty spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and allspice, it is the perfect marriage of traditional shahi tukra and a festive bread and butter pudding.

Ingredients

• 6 slices raisin bread, preferably a day old
• ½ cup (120 g/4½ oz) ghee, for frying
• 700 ml (23½ fl oz) milk
• 300 ml (10 fl oz) thick (double/heavy) cream
• 4 cardamom pods
• ⅓ cup (75 g/2¾ oz) white (granulated) sugar
• 7–8 saffron strands soaked in 1 tbsp warm milk
• pinch of salt
• ½ tsp rosewater
• 1 tbsp slivered pistachios, to garnish
• dried rose petals, to garnish

Instructions

1. Trim the crusts off the raisin bread for a neater presentation, then cut each slice into triangles. Heat a generous amount of ghee in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the bread pieces until they turn crisp and golden on both sides. Transfer onto a wire rack to cool.
2. For the malai (cream), pour the milk and cream into a pot, add the cardamom pods and bring to a gentle boil. Lower the heat and allow to simmer, stirring often to prevent sticking. As a creamy layer forms on the surface, scrape it down into the milk and continue reducing until the mixture becomes thick and luscious, about one-third of its original volume. Stir in the sugar, saffron milk and a pinch of salt. Cook for a few more minutes before adding the rosewater, if desired. Remove the malai from the heat and allow it to cool slightly.
3. To assemble the dessert, arrange the golden fried bread on a flat serving dish and spoon the cooled malai generously over the top. Scatter the slithered pistachios and rose petals to garnish.
4. Allow the shahi tukra to rest for an hour before serving; this deepens the flavours and gives the dessert its signature luxurious texture. Serve it at room temperature or chilled.

This is an edited extract from Smoke, Rice, Water by Kishwar Chowdhury (Hardie Grant Books). Food photography by Armelle Habib.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.