Nepali Sikarni is a creamy yogurt-based dessert often served during special events and festivals. It’s an easy dessert made with only a handful of ingredients and everyone LOVES it.

If you are looking for an easy dessert, sikarni is the one for you. Made with few high quality ingredients, sikarni comes together with very little effort and every one loves it. In Nepal, it is often served as during festivals, family get togethers, and special occasion as it requires a little bit of pre-planning. My aunt who lives in Houston has the biggest sweet tooth in my family and I got the recipe from her in making the creamiest, luscious Sikarni with cardamom.

Growing up, I thought Sikarni was a complicated dish because we only ate on special occasions, but turns out that’s not the case at all. It literally takes 15 minutes to make and 24 hours of inactive time where yogurt is hung to drain the whey from it. Once the whey is completely drained the next day, you simply whip yogurt with some milk, sugar, cardamom until fluffy.

You can manually whisk everything together or use an electric whisk to make your life little easier.

 

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To make Sikarni, please use plain, whole milk yogurt when possible for the best texture. The leftover whey can be saved to make smoothies, soups, and rice. Sikarni is a dessert but you can adjust the amount of sugar per your taste.

I love sikarni with cardamom powder and black pepper. Other add-ons include saffron, nuts, coconut and warming spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.

Sikarni can be made 2-3 days in advance and enjoyed later. If you are able to find pomegranate, I highly recommend adding them on top right before serving. It adds a nice texture to the creamy sikarni.

Sikarni – Nepali Style Whipped Yogurt with Cardamom

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 32 oz plain, whole milk yogurt

• scant 1/4 cup sugar (add more per taste)

• scant 1/2 cup milk

• heaping 2 teaspoon cardamom powder

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• pomegranate seeds, chopped nuts, saffron, optional for serving

Directions

1. Pour yogurt in cheesecloth/muslin cloth and tightly tie the ends together. Let it hang to drain the whey overnight in the refrigerator. Make sure to put a bowl under the cheesecloth.

2. Transfer the yogurt in a large bowl. Add sugar, cardamom powder, black pepper and slowly add milk to the mix. Use a whisk or an electric mixer to whip the mixture until fluffy for 5-8 minutes.

3. Taste and adjust the sugar and cardamom accordingly.

4. Serve it chilled with pomegranate seeds, saffron, chopped nuts etc as desired.