This is one of the first Kulfis that I made. Super amazing, super delicious and super easy. Everyone who have tried Malai Kulfi, have always requested for seconds and it melts everyone’s heart.
I believe the start of Kulfi must have been with malai kulfi. A standard Malai Kulfi does not have any nuts but I added some to mine to make it thicker and also to add a little crunch to it. Adding nuts and types of nuts is optional and doesn’t make a difference to the taste of the Malai Kulfi .
Figs / Anjeer are a big part of dry fruit family. Sweetness of their own they are a splendid source of fiber while they taste great. After making lovely Kulfis with Almonds, Pistachios and saffron, I felt that figs would be a great choice for the next flavor.
Figs are sweet, healthy and rich in vitamins and minerals. Doctors suggest that consuming figs with milk is an excellent source of nutrition. I am not a big fan of figs by themselves, but trying them for Kulfi was one of the best decisions I ever made. It really enhances the flavor and as much as I was apprehensive at first, I was proud with the finished product.
One thing that you need to pay attention to is adding sugar. Figs are sweet and the longer they cook in milk, they keep oozing their sugar out, bit by bit and I always advise to add sugar towards the end, since you will get a perfect sweetness.
Another fact is about making a puree of the figs. Making a puree of half of the figs and chopping the other half to small pieces is better than making all puree. First reason being that all puree makes the milk extra sweet and second is that little chunks of Figs in your mouth while eating the delicious kulfi.
Kulfi is well known Indian Ice cream. Kulfi or Qulfi is an Indian word derived from the Persian word “Qufli” meaning “covered cup”. The dessert likely originated from the Mughals. From the history I read, I found that it made to one of the most popular deserts in the Mughal Empire in the 16th century.
The mixture of dense evaporated milk was already popular in the sweet dishes in the Indian subcontinent. During the Mughal period, this mixture was flavored with pistachios and saffron, packed into metal cones and immersed in slushed ice, resulting in the invention of Kulfi.
Ain-e- Akbari, a detailed record of the Mughal emperor Akbar’s administration, mentions use of saltpeter for refrigeration as well as transportation of Himalayan ice to warmer areas.
Kulfi has similarities to ice cream in appearance and taste; however being dense, its more filling and the flavors are more pretentious. It comes in various flavours. The more traditional ones are cream/ malai, rose/Gulab, Cardamom/ Elaichi, Mango, saffron/ zaffran and pistachio. There are newer variations such as apple, orange, strawberry, peanut, and avocado. Unlike ice cream, kulfi is not whipped, resulting in a solid, dense frozen dessert similar to traditional custard-based ice cream. Thus, it is sometimes considered a distinct category of frozen dairy-based dessert. Due to its density, kulfi takes a longer time to melt than Western ice cream.
My hometown has a very old shop that has been making and serving Kulfis for over 300 years. People still believe it to be the best frozen desert we get in my hometown. Its popularly known as Marwari Kulfi and is loved by people of all ages. During my childhood, there were Kulfi vendors who sold Kulfi in a cart. They were popularly known as “Kulfiwala” and would sell cylinder shaped long kulfis on a stick, that were taken out of a metal mold, or small earthen pots that were all kept in a mix of ice and salt.
Kulfi is traditionally prepared by evaporating sweetened and flavored milk by slow cooking. It needs to be constantly stirred, making sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. A little sticking to the pan would leave the milk with a burnt smell, that is impossible to take out, therefore one has to be careful. The best trick I use for that is adding a cup of cold water in the bottom of the pan before adding milk. Also keeping the flame to low or medium helps as well. The milk has to be cooked till its volume is reduced by half, thickening it, increasing its fat, protein, and lactose density.
It has a distinctive taste due to caramelizing of lactose and sugar during the lengthy cooking process, while adding your favorite flavor to it. The semi-condensed mix is then frozen in tight sealed molds that are then submerged in ice mixed with salt to speed up the freezing process. The ice/salt mix, along with its submerged kulfi moulds, is placed in a kulhar/ small matka which is an earthen pot that provides insulation from the external heat and slows down the melting of ice. Kulfi, thus prepared by slow freezing, also renders a unique smooth mouth feel that is devoid of ice crystals.
An easier version is to boil the milk and add bread crumbs, mawa (dried whole milk), and sugar while stirring. The cream layer formed on the boiling milk is scooped initially and added in the end to thicken the milk. More recently Kulfi is prepared from evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and heavy cream. Then sugar is added and the mixture is further boiled and cornstarch mixed in water paste is added. This paste thickens the mixture, although it is boiled for an additional few minutes. Then flavors are then added. The mixture is then cooled, put in molds and frozen.
It needs to freeze for 8-10 hours. Take it out 5-7 minutes before serving. If the edges do not loosen up, you can add the molds to water for 2-3 minutes and take the kulfi out of the molds. It can be served by itself or with vermicelli/ Falooda.
So, this special kulfi is a 4 layer flavor of Rose, malai, Pista and Figs. I put layers of all flavors together in a heart [ Dil ] shaped mold, heance came up with the name. Decorating it with nuts, silver leaf and rose syrup.
Indians can move out of India, but their love for their country and food never goes away. Most Indians travel to India to meet their country to relive their days and enjoy their respective cities, meet family and friends and to enjoy their favorite foods, most importantly street foods and sweets.
Most friends who travel home always bring back loads of sweets with them, including us. We always get our favorite sweets from India. There are some wonderful sweets that I get from Rajasthan and some awesome delicacies that Mr. Parveez gets from Bangalore/ Bengaluru.
One of the mawa’a sweets that I loved from childhood is the half chocolate and half mawa’a. I still enjoy eating them when I am in India, and not just me, Mr. Parveez and boys enjoy them equally. The only problem we faced is that since the sweet is made from milk solids, we could never carry them with us, since milk products, unless they are sealed pack which isn’t possible from our favorite sweet stores.
Living in another country and not having the privilege of enjoying sweets and other foods as much as we would like to, and that pushes people like me to try and cook our favorite dishes at home.
And, one fine day I tried making our favorite burfi at home and they came out pretty good and almost same as what we get from our favorite stores. The recipe is pretty simple and the steps are also easy to follow. You just have to make sure that you cook on low heat so the khoya is cooked evenly and doesn’t ooze out any oil. The layers can be set by placing the chocolate burfi on the mawa’a burfi by brushing little water to help glue them together.
A very easy recipe and definitely comes out wonderful.
Banana split is always a special treat for Ice cream lovers. When we talk of Ice cream and children, chocolate flavor is the first thing that comes to our mind.
Mr. Parveez and I loved taking walks to a wonderful Ice cream shop near our first home and that’s when we got the hang of Banana split. Though our life before children, we would get a scoop of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. After our boys joined our Ice cream lovers club, the scoops changed to chocolate only. Usually, the chocolate Ice cream would be finished by my boys, and Mr. Parveez and I would enjoy the Banana…I guess joys of Parenthood…LOLzzz. Now, this was only when we went out for ice creams. At that time, I couldn’t even imagine that I would be making so many varieties of Ice creams myself, some day.
And, then one day I started with my Ice cream experiments. Initially my Ice cream recipes contained egg. Though the Ice creams came out fantastic, but somewhere I felt they weren’t just as good as I desired them to be. Also, the fact that I knew they contained eggs made me feel that I was eating raw egg…LOLzzz. Not just that, I could never decide if I could actually smell the egg or was it just in my mind. So, with all that confusion, I decided my Ice creams had to be egg free. I started experimenting more, and after numerous failures came up with a recipe as good as store bought. I did come down to the conclusion that for that perfect creaminess Gelatin or Agar Agar has to be used in the recipe. I used Halal Gelatin, but if you are using the vegetarian substitute, Agar Agar can be used in same amount as Gelatin.
After that, one day I felt the mom in me felt that my kids weren’t consuming enough fruits and I started coming up with various ideas of making them eat more fruit. This is when I decided that I should serve then Banana split when I give them Ice cream on weekends. And thus, this Ice cream recipe. Enjoy!!!
I have mentioned in my other food stories of how my better half, Mr. Parveez has loads of stories of his different food flavors that he has experienced since childhood.
One of his childhood favorites were Khajas. Khajas are also known as Chirotis down south. Now, let me get this straight, I had never tried khajas before, so when Mr. Parveez told me the story about Khajas, the explanation was, “Its has layers, its fried and its sweet”. According to him the details good enough but imagine getting these details for something you haven’t seen or tasted.
But, when Mr. Parveez demands something, I have to try and do everything to make it for him. Cooking for him, specially what he demands give me immense happiness. I get a kick out of it….LOLzzz.
So, basically I was still clueless as to what he expected and just went ahead with what I understood and the result was a disaster. They were too soft, chewy and absorbed too much oil and were nothing close to what Mr. Parveez desired. But, I can’t give up so easily, therefore there was a second try and this time I made sure I do proper research before a try.
Mr. Parveez always called them “Khajas”. While doing my research, I found that they are widely known as “Chiroti”. Reading various regions making it, I not only understood how to make them, but also got an idea of so many variations in them.
This recipe that I am sharing is fool proof and very easy. Loved by kids and adults. Do try it.
Kulfi is an Indian Ice cream and is favorite to ice cream lovers. My family has always loved eating or ordering kulfis from our favorite kulfi shop. There used to be one particular Kulfi shop that sold the best “marwari kulfi”. That shop is still by the clock tower in Jodhpur and it still sells the most authentic marwari kulfi.
Though in last few years, a lot of new ice cream shops and kulfi places have opened and become popular too. But, for people like me, we still go back to that old shop to get the traditional and delicious kulfi.
Being far away from home, we yearn to have those flavors and no matter which restaurant we go to, the kulfi doesn’t taste the same as what we get back home. I always craved for the creamy texture and nutty flavor which I never found anywhere around.
And then one fine day, I decided to start making my own. Trust me, its one of the best decision I ever took. After this, it was no looking back. I experimented with loads of different flavors and made a huge variety.
I feel there is nothing better than having your kulfi homemade. See, there is nothing that can beat the freshness, the quality of the products that you use plus the shelf time. When you buy them from the market, you have no idea how many times, they have been defrosted and refreeze again and don’t forget all the preservatives added to them.
As much as its hyped with all the recipes given of how to get a perfect kulfi, trust me there is no big deal to it. Its simple and comes out delicious. Just follow the simple steps. It doesn’t require too many ingredients and it would turn out more delicious than your favorite store brand.
If you have questions, feel free to ask.
This Halwa was an idea that I had after I made badaam ka halwa, which is pretty popular in India. I felt that Almonds or badaam have been given a lot of importance when it comes to nuts, where as , walnuts are very healthy, but not liked a lot due to their taste. Its easy to see moms feeding their kids badaam ka halwa, when kids refuse eating plain almonds with milk. Indian mothers and their never ending love that always displays in the food and the amount of food that we serve our kids. Its amusing how one bowl of badaam halwa takes place of 7-8 almonds/badaam…LOLzzz.
So, the mother in me wanted to feed walnuts to my boys and thats when the idea hit me. Initially, I planned on working with walnuts only, but then realizing that they might not taste as good by themselves as I would like them to.
Finally, I decided of experimenting walnuts by adding a little cashew to it for that creamy texture and nut sweetness. It did the trick. This is one of best Halwa that I have cooked. The recipe is sure to impress everyone.
We love avocados…healthy, fresh and tastes great. Most of the times, we used them as a part of a salad, or make guacamole and serve it with tortilla chips.
So, taking a step ahead I tried the avocado ice cream. Mr. Parveez thought I am taking it a little too far, but it ain’t gonna hurt trying, Right??? So, I decided to try. Like all fruit based ice creams, this too has very strong Avocado flavor. I was surprised when I had some friends over as guests and I served them the Avocado ice cream and one of them said, “The taste of Avocado is pretty prominent”. And, I said to myself, “mmmm, did I say mango ice cream while serving, No, it is Avocado so it will taste avocado too.”…LOLzzz
Nevertheless, I love all my friends, with their great tastes and weird tastes. Some spice lovers, some sweet lovers, some generous with compliments, other prove it by over eating. But in all, they all are lovely and wonderful.
It is pretty simple and easy to make and is perfect for beginners. Its creamy, fresh and the taste of avocado makes it even more delicious.
My older son, Aryaan and I have always loved Kaju katli / Kaju Burfi . We, in Rajasthan call Kaju Burfi, Kaju Katli and I always find myself explaining everyone that when I say katli, I am referring to Burfi.
So, with every trip made to my hometown, Jodhpur, Kaju katli was one thing we had to eat very often… and then one trip coming back home, we carried few kgs of kaju katli with us to enjoy our favorite sweet for a few more days while getting over our home sickness [yupp, believe it or not, we all get home sick after returning from India]. One day my younger son, Kiyaan saw his elder brother munching on Kaju katli and thought of giving it a try…and that’s when I saw almost half a kg of kaju katli vanish like a bag of chips….LOLzzz
And that is when I decided that I need start making Kaju Katlis at home and I started. You can always search for the recipe on this website and trust me, its one of the easiest recipes and it might come out much better than a lot of stores you have tried them from. This recipe was so good that my boys prefer it to any kaju katli they have ever tasted …Lucky me!!!
So after, my experiment of making kaju katli perfectly and not to forget, Mr. Parveez preferring my kaju katli over the ones in India, I thought of taking the next step and make badaam katli.
The main difference I believe between katli and burfi is that katli being a little thinner adds a lot of mild flavor and crispness to the taste of sweet. The thin texture, believe it not makes enhances the flavor of the almonds and is easier for your taste buds to differentiate between the flavor of almond, milk powder and sugar. Easy to make, very flavorful and wins hearts!!!
