STRAWBERRY CARDAMOM KULFI ICE CREAM
Strawberry Cardamom Kulfi Ice Cream is an amalgamation of desserts from east and west! Kulfi, the traditional ice cream from India and strawberry, the most popular fruit in the western desserts.The cardamom flavour is keeping the kulfi true to its original taste. A combination truly inspired to keep both the cultures and cuisine alive in one dessert!
Oscars is on tonight and definitely a time to celebrate, also for the reason that there is an amalgamation of two cultures over here too! Priyanka Chopra, a highly favorite actress of mine from India, now doing exceedingly well in Hollywood, actually was on Oscar stage presenting an award! I could not find a better night than tonight to share this flavour with all of you!
When you have some leftovers,the creative part of the brain just goes wild. As a young kid, I was always the one to order the most strange looking name on the menu at the restaurant! Just had to try out that the new dish on the platter for sure! I guess I still have that gene alive and kicking in me, for wanting to continue to explore and try out new things with a sense of wonder!
The Kulfi ice cream is much firmer than the ice cream as known in the western world. You can actually bite into it, and the thickening texture is obtained by reducing the milk via boiling quite similar to condensed milk. Traditional flavours of kulfi consists of saffron, plain, cardamom, almonds, pistachio, and each of them taste highly delicious. The look of the kulfi is similar to popsicles and the word kulfi comes from the Persian word which means something covered in Persian. The kulfi ice cream is frozen in a kulfi mould similar to popsicle mould but made out of aluminium. Aluminium containers are best for freezing desserts, the lack of which did not give me the sharpness and shape of a true kulfi. But I plan to buy the kulfi aluminium moulds during my next trip to India, till then I will just have to do with plastic popsicle moulds.
What is interesting is that the kulfis are fast becoming the “New Ice Cream to go for” in New York city, due to a new restaurant Babuji, which is making the kulfi highly popular amongst the new york foodies. Do read more about this new restaurant and kulfi pictures at Babujis Kulfi .
The ease of making the kulfi is facilitated by the use of thick bottom non-stick pan, which eliminates the need to constantly oversee and stir the boiling milk!You will enjoy the extremely creamy taste of this dense textured ice cream that has the surprise of fresh strawberry sauce pulp. The cardamom flavour lingers on for a long period much after you have savoured the last drip of Strawberry Cardamom Kulfi Ice Cream.
Strawberry Cardamom Kulfi Ice Cream
Recipe makes approx 9 kulfis
Cooking time 1-1/1/2 hours
Chilling time – 24-36 hours
Ingredients
For the Kulfi base:
- 1/2 gallon or 1 litre full fat milk
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup condensed milk
- 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
- Some ghee for greasing the base.
- Popsicles or kulfi moulds
- Long sticks to remove the kulfi from kulfi moulds.
For Strawberry Pulp Sauce
- Strawberry Cardamom sauce pulp as detailed at Recipe for Strawberry sauce. The recipe makes approx 1 1/2 cup strawberry sauce which is adequate for the kulfi.
Method
- Grease a deep pan with ghee, preferably a thick bottom non stick pan.
- Add milk, condensed milk, sugar and cardamom. Stir well and put to boil on slow flame.
- Keep boiling till the milk, till it reduces to approx 1/3 of its original quantity.
- Leave it to cool .
- Once cooled, fill 1/3rd of the mould with this kulfi base.
- Mix in 2 spoonful of strawberry mixture to the popsicle moulds.
- Fill up the popsicles with plain kulfi base.
- Close and chill for at least 24-36 hours.
- To serve remove the freezer, and leave it to warm for 7-8 min. or dip the moulds in warm water. If using kulfi moulds, use the long skewer kind of sticks to remove the kulfi.
- Enjoy two different flavours distinctly with the strawberries in one part and the original kulfi flavour in the other half!
Tips
If the kulfi breaks on removing from mould, just serve on a plate like I did.
If you do not have any moulds, one can also just freeze this in any cake/bread container and cut into square pieces and serve on a plate. This is also how the restaurants also sometimes serve kulfi.
Do taste for sweetness before freezing the kulfi.
Other traditional flavours of kulfi are having it just plain, cardamom, almonds, saffron, pistachio,
Instinct Factor
To judge whether the milk has boiled and reduced enough, look out for the pink, prominent as the milk starts thickening.
Feel Factor
Enjoy the Strawberry Cardamom Kulfi Ice cream for its distinct creamy, sweet, dense texture with contrasting flavours of fresh strawberries and cardamom. This was so appreciated by my neighbours, that they called for round two of this! What I liked is the taste of semi crushed strawberry pulp giving an added dimension to kulfi taste. Looks like Kulfi Ice cream is here to rock the folks in the western world and why not enjoy this at home, as there is not much cooking, but simply just boiling the milk in a non stick pan! Do appreciate the ice cream spoon from India, which suggests the dense structure of kulfis that need the slanted top of spoons to make pieces of ice cream! If you are not up for strawberry flavour, just add in some pistachios or almonds or have it plain which is equally delicious and original!
