Full Recipe
Author
Khushbu Shah |
Description
"It feels like every write-up about shahi tukda is the same. People always mention that the dessert's origins can be traced back to the 1600s during the Mughal rule of modern-day India. That it was a dish created for and fed to royals. That the name literally translates to “royal piece” or “royal bite.” That shahi tukda is often described as “Indian bread pudding.” And all of that is true, except for the fact that I've always felt the dish has more French toast vibes than bread pudding vibes—and so I transformed it into just that.The traditional recipe calls for frying thin pieces of white bread in ghee, then soaking them in a sugar syrup and drowning the fried bread in a custardy sauce of cooked-down milk, sugar, and saffron, and garnishing with nuts like pistachios. Delicious, but more work than I want it to be. Instead of having to patiently watch milk thicken, you make a simple custard amped up with saffron, vanilla, and cardamom to soak the bread in, and drizzle the final product with sweetened condensed milk. You want to make sure to use a properly soft white bread, like brioche or challah. This dish is easy to make for a group and can be prepped the night before. Be sure to garnish the French toast with a generous amount of pistachios and edible rose petals, if you can. If you have any edible gold or silver foil on hand, use it, too—this is a dish for royals, after all."Excerpted from AMRIKAN: 125 Recipes from the Indian American Diaspora. Copyright © 2024 by Khushbu Shah. Used with permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company. All rights reserved.
