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Kulfi

It is never churned, and the slow cooking browns the milk before it is frozen.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (whole milk).

Ingredients

Method

  1. IT IS NEVER CHURNED, AND THE SLOW COOKING BROWNS THE MILK BEFORE IT IS FROZEN. Its article is clear on both. Sweetened flavoured milk is SLOW COOKED, stirred almost continuously, until it condenses and thickens -- and the slow cooking CARAMELISES THE SUGAR and BROWNS THE MILK PROTEINS, which is where the taste comes from. Then, UNLIKE ICE CREAM, it is frozen WITHOUT BEING CHURNED, which gives a denser result that melts more slowly. Churn it and you have ice cream with cardamom in it.
  2. THE MILK IS REDUCED BY MORE THAN HALF. A litre and a half down to about six hundred millilitres, over forty minutes to an hour. There is no shortcut: the browning and the thickening happen together and both take time.
  3. IT IS STIRRED ALMOST CONSTANTLY AND THE BOTTOM IS SCRAPED. Its article says stirred almost continuously to stop it sticking. A skin forming is fine here and gets stirred back in -- which is the opposite of what the rabri page does, where the skin is lifted off and kept.
  4. THE SUGAR GOES IN EARLY SO IT CAN CARAMELISE. With the milk, not at the end. Stirred in once the milk is already reduced it dissolves and does nothing else.
  5. THE CARDAMOM AND SAFFRON GO IN NEAR THE END. Ten minutes before it comes off the heat.
  6. IT IS COOLED BEFORE IT IS MOULDED. To room temperature at least. Hot mixture into a mould melts the ice around it before it can freeze.
  7. THE MOULDS ARE FILLED AND SEALED. Its article says the mixture is poured into moulds, often kulhars, and SEALED. Sealing keeps the brine out, which matters because of what it is frozen in.
  8. THE OLD WAY IS ICE AND SALT, AND IT IS FASTER THAN A FREEZER. Its article describes the sealed moulds submerged in an insulated matka of ice and salt, which freezes it QUICKLY and so leaves it smooth and free of ice crystals. A domestic freezer takes six hours and gives a coarser result; a bowl of ice with a quarter of its weight in salt does it in one.
  9. IT COMES OUT OF THE COLD TEN MINUTES BEFORE IT IS WANTED. Its article says ten to fifteen, to let the outside soften enough to release. Then unmoulded and scattered with the nuts.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes