Kulfi

Last weekend I invited my friend over for dinner. Since she is from Mumbai (just like us) I thought of creating Mumbai style menu for her. Sev puri, pav bhaji, tawa pulav. and to top it all with chilled kulfi! These are all juhu beach favorites! :)

Kulfi is an Indian ice-cream. It is not soft and airy like ice-creams, but it is dense and creamy. Kulfi is set in molds or containers and then cut into pieces and served with a popsicle.

I remember an old man with a clay pot on his head walking around in our community calling out Kulfi, Kulfi...which meant that he was a vendor selling kulfi. Weekends we would surely buy few kulfis from him after dinner. That would be our dessert of the day. He would roll kulfi mold in between his palm to loosen it, open up kulfi molds right in front of us, cut into pieces and serve it on a leaf with a bamboo stick. What a natural way of using disposable plates!! The taste and flavor of Kulfi served this way was amazing too. How many of you remember this??

This recipe is the traditional way of making kulfi by evaporating milk. I am not much in favor of using bread or cornstarch or artificial thickeners as they cannot be consumed during fasts and festivals. Simmering well and getting rid of the water content would make kulfi creamier and prevent it from freezing with icicles. Give it a try.

Ingredients for 10-12 Kulfi molds or 10-12 small Matkis:

2 liters (around 1/2 gallon) whole milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup sugar
1/2 tbsp cardamom powder
1 tsp. saffron strands
1/4 cup pistachios (slivered or chopped)
Ice-cream or Kulfi molds or small matki (earthen pots)

To make Malai Kulfi:

1. In a heavy bottom pan boil milk. Simmer for around an hour stirring occasionally for milk to evaporate and thicken. Scrape sides and bottom of the pan removing all stuck, condensed, milk. (do not discard it...this is malai which gives kulfi delicious taste).
2. Use a stick blender to blend all the bits of malai in well. 
3. Add 1 cup heavy whipping cream and sugar to the simmering milk.
4. Add ground cardamom seeds. 
5. Simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat
6. Let the mixture cool.
7. Fill into molds and freeze for 4-5 hours or till it sets.
8. Insert a stick or cut into pieces and serve.

To make Kesar Pista Kulfi:

1. In a heavy bottom pan boil milk. Simmer for around an hour stirring occasionally for milk to evaporate and thicken. Scrape sides and bottom of the pan removing all stuck, condensed, milk. (do not discard it...this is malai which gives kulfi delicious taste).
2. Use a stick blender to blend all the bits of malai in well.
3. Add 1 cup heavy whipping cream and sugar to the simmering milk.
4. Add ground cardamom seeds, saffron, and slivered pistachios.
5. Simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat
6. Let the mixture cool.
7. Fill into molds and freeze for 4-5 hours or till it sets.
8. Insert a stick or cut into pieces and serve. 

 Here is step-by-step pictorial recipe:

In a heavy bottom pan boil milk. Simmer for around an hour stirring occasionally for milk to evaporate and thicken. Scrape sides and bottom of the pan removing all stuck, condensed, milk. (do not discard it...this is malai which gives kulfi delicious taste).

Cardamom powder in my mortar & pestle.

Saffron & Pistachios

My new kulfi molds with a stand.

Since kulfi is my husbands favorite dessert, he wanted to help me fill the molds while I could take pictures :)

Garnish with more pistachios. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze.

Enjoy Chilled Kulfi!!

Malai Chop

Bengali sweets are so liked by my family. They are my husband's favorite sweets. Bengal, an eastern state of India is well know for their Rasgullas or Roshogullas which means cottage cheese balls cooked in sugar syrup. There are so many variations of this recipe to make delicious and mouthwatering sweets. Malai Sandwich, Mughal-E-Azam, Chum Chum, Rajbhog, and many more arise from the same basic recipe. Malai chop is also one of the variation of everyone's favorite Rasgulla. Soft, cylindrically shaped Rasgulla is lathered with sweetened whipped cream and garnished with nuts.

With so many festivals coming up, I am sure you would have many occasions to try this out for your family.

This recipe makes 7 large Malai Chops

Boil 4 cups of milk in a heavy bottom pan. Add around 1 to 2 tbsp. lime juice for milk to curdle. Turn of the heat. Strain in a strainer lined with cheese cloth or a muslin cloth. Rinse freshly made cottage cheese with cold water and wring it well. Keep it hung for around 30 minutes to get rid of excess water.

After 30 minutes, remove fresh cottage cheese on a plate. Cottage cheese/ Paneer should be dry and crumbly. Knead it with your palm for 5-7 minutes to form a soft dough.

Divide into 7 equal parts and make smooth, slightly flattened cylinders.

Boil 1+1/2 cup sugar with 4 cups water into a pressure cooker.

Add paneer cylinders into boiling syrup. Cover with a lid and cook on medium heat till you hear a whistle blow. Turn off the heat and let the pressure cooker cool before opening the lid.

Remove each cooked Paneer cylinder in a plate. Cover and refrigerate for 4-5 hours or a day.

Whip 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream with 2 tbsp powdered sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla extract.

You could also add rose extract with some red food color.

You could also use pineapple or orange extract as a variation.

Gently apply whipped cream over each chilled malai chop. Garnish with saffron dissolved milk and slivered pistachios and almonds.

Cover and refrigerate them for and hour.

Wishing everyone Happy Festivities!!

Kesar Malai Peda

Wishing all my Muslim friends a very Happy Eid and wishing all my Hindu friends a very Happy Shrawan month! May all your Wishes fulfill soon!!

Peda is a soft milk based sweet and is very popular amongst all. In fact, Pedas are of so many different type and textures, that it is hard to decide which one is the favorite. In the peda making process, milk is boiled till the moisture is evaporated leaving behind milk solid that is reffered to as MAWA. This Mawa is then mixed with sugar and garnished with nuts. Doesn't that sound easy? Yes, it is very simple, but sometimes it is tricky to form a good Mawa. These pedas are so soft, that each of these is individually placed in a paper cup and served. They are sometimes difficult to hold too :) Malai Pedas are specially close to my heart. My sister and I share lovely memories of these.

This recipe was a successful trial to recreate the taste and texture of those soft, sweet, memories. If you like Malai Pedas, you should try these soon.

To make around 12 Malai Pedas

Boil 1 liter (5 cups) milk in a non stick pan stirring continuously. 

Here is my Robot stir (a battery operated device) to stir milk for me :)

When all the moisture from milk evaporates, the solid remains which is smooth in texture. Since these malai pedas have a granular texture, it is important for milk to curdle slightly. This curdling can take place by adding a tiny bit of acid to the boiling milk. 

Citric acid, Alum, or Cream of Tartar can be used to help form granular mawa.

In this recipe, I used 1/8 tsp. alum and 1/8 tsp. cream of tartar (tartaric acid) after the first boil.

(You could use 1/8 tsp. citric acid mixed with 2 tbsp. water adding little at a time.)

Alum is a white rock or powder used in purifying water or in pickles. A very tiny bit of alum can be consumed. Please keep this away from reach of children. 

Alum can be easily available at any India Grocery store as Fitkari. Alum powder is also available at Walmart in the spice aisle.

Cream of Tarttar is found easily in any American grocery store n a spice aisle.

As water evaporates, you will see these granular milk solids remaining. Stir continuously.

Add few strands of saffron for color and flavor.

Stir till water completely evaporates. Remove from heat.

Add a tsp. of cardamom powder.

Mix well and let the mixture cool almost completely. 

Use 1/2 cup powdered sugar. I like to use this organic powdered sugar better than confectionery sugar. Confectionery sugar contains cornstarch which is not permitted during Hindu fasts. This sugar does not contain cornstarch, rather has tapioca starch :) I was indeed so happy to see this. 

(You could also powder regular sugar in your grinder to form a powder.)

Mix 1/2 cup sugar into almost cool mawa mixture. If your Mawa is warm, sugar might start to dissolve and would melt your mixture. Be patient.

Grease you palm with some ghee. Divide the mixture into 12 parts and roll them lightly into small balls.

Garnish with chopped almonds and pistachios. Serve!

Celebrate with this Delicious, Soft, Sweet!