Malai Kulfi

Agreed, it is not the season for kulfi, at least for kids. But my kid was insisting on having ice-cream and I thought that making homemade kulfi would be much better. I had the kulfi moulds since about two years. Somehow though, I never got around to making kulfis. This time though I had about two litres of milk left over, and decided that I would make malai kulfi for the benefit of both my daughter, and Project Indian Cooking.

I did not use any short cuts. I did not use condensed milk. I used whole milk and spent three hours trying to reduce its volume. My kid had already fallen asleep by that time, and I was feeling sleepy too. I slept at 2 a.m. finally after pouring the milk into the moulds. But trust me, the result was darned well worth all the effort that went into making this.

You can use the short cut method, there are plenty of those available on the internet. But this, was the real thing. You should make it too, and you will remember your favorite kulfi wala, like my husband remembered this kulfi-wala from Indore, and mom and me reminisced about our favorite ShreeRam Kulfi wala from Vasai.

Ingredients

• 2 litres whole milk (fatter the better)
• 1 and 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• 1 tbsp sliced pistachios
• 1 tbsp sliced blanced almonds (optional)
• 7 kulfi moulds with sticks

Take a wide wok with heavy bottom for this. Pour about 3 tablespoons of water into the wok. This prevents the milk from sticking to the bottom and prevents it from burning. (I do not know the rationale behind this, but this works even in your regular milk boiling utensil too. It just prevents milk from forming that icky fatty layer at the bottom which is so difficult to clean. A tip I thankfully received from my sister-in-law Shivani Rege)

Now pour all the milk into the pan and place it on the heat. Bring the milk to a boil. Keeping the heat to a medium, keep boiling the milk, stirring continuously, till it reduces to about half its original volume. (This will be about a litre.) Now add the sugar, cardamom, pistachios and almonds and boil further till it reduces to half again (about half a litre remains in the wok)

Turn off the heat and cool the milk to room temperature first. Pour the milk into kulfi moulds and insert the sticks (Or individual bowls if you don't have the moulds) and put them in the freezer to chill them overnight. 

While serving, remove the moulds from the freezer for about 5 minutes, and then put a gentle but firm tug on the stick. The kulfi will emerge from the mould, stuck to the stick.

Become a child again while you enjoy this delightful Indian ice-cream!

Happy Cooking!