MALAI KULFI

Today’s Blog is about a dessert that doesn’t need any Specific season nor a reason to have it. liked by Everyone and Every generation of people.

What is kulfi?

Kulfi is a popular Indian ice cream dessert made with milk, sugar, nuts & cardamoms. It is made by evaporating milk and then sweetened with sugar. Flavoring ingredients like saffron and cardamom powder are added along with ground or chopped nuts. The mixture is then poured to molds and frozen until it is set. Various kinds of molds are available in the market, you can also use small Popsicle molds or stainless steel cups like I have used in this post. I have used 120 ml of stainless glass/cups to pour the mixture. The traditional way of making kulfi does take a lot of time like RABRI since the milk has to simmer for hours to reduce and thicken. This kulfi recipe does save a lot of time as it uses fresh cream and corn starch to thicken the mixture quickly. It yields delicious and creamy kulfi icecream without the flavor of starch. You can use corn starch or arrowroot powder in this recipe, both work well. Arrowroot powder is cooling to the body and is good during summers, so I have used arrowroot powder this time.

Kulfi made this way with rabri tastes too good and you cannot compare it with the kulfi you get outside. The best part of this method is that you don’t need to add any thickening agents like cornstarch etc to the kulfi. But yes preparing kulfi this way does take some time and you have to be attentive while the milk is simmering. But the effort spent is worth the results.

This Matka kulfi recipe is inspired by Jiggs Kalra's book — classic cooking of Punjab, where cream along with eggs has been added to rabri. Being a vegetarian I have not used eggs. But the addition of cream was a clever one and I thought why not add cream in rabri and prepare malai kulfi. As the name suggests, Malai kulfi should have cream in it. at least that's what I think.
In the rabri mixture, there is not enough malai, so it does make a difference when some more fresh cream is added. There is a difference in the taste and texture from kulfi made only with rabri and the kulfi made with a combination of rabri+cream. The latter being richer in taste as well as having a creamier texture. That said, during this recipe, you’ll add less cream or perhaps skip it altogether. Then you will have a simple plain Kesar Pista kulfi which also tastes good.

To make this kulfi richer, you can also add some khoya or mawa, which I have not added. Khoya also is known as mawa is basically reduced evaporated milk solids.
I have used Amul whipping cream having 30% fat. You can also use Amul fresh cream or any low-fat cream (25% to 35% fat). I have also added dry fruits, but you’ll be able to skip them.
Serve malai kulfi as a dessert after meals. You can also add malai kulfi to arrange falooda.

Key Ingredients:

— Milk: Do not try this recipe with low fat or fat-free or 1%, 2% milk. It will not give good results. Always use whole milk or full-fat milk.
— Heavy whipping cream: I am using 35% fat content-heavy cream.
— Khoya: Here I have used a little amount of khoya. Instead, you can add milk powder. Or leave it out completely.
— Nuts: Chop or slice the nuts using a knife. Do not crush them in powder form. Chopped nuts give some texture to the kulfi.
Here I am using almonds and pistachios which are our preference. But you can go with your preference. Add only almonds, make badam kulfi. Add only pistachios, make pista kulfi. Add mixed dried fruits like nuts, raisins, figs, and make dried fruit kulfi. Add a pinch of saffron while boiling the milk, make Kesar malai kulfi.

Which is better kulfi or ice cream?

Kulfi is formed boiling full cream milk to its one-third volume and hence creamier than frozen dessert. Unlike Kulfi, ice cream contains many chemical and for this reason, Kulfi is better than ice-cream.

How is kulfi different from ice cream?

Kulfi is analogous to frozen dessert in appearance and taste but denser and creamier. … Unlike frozen dessert, kulfi isn’t whipped, leading to a solid, dense dessert almost like traditional custard-based frozen dessert. Thus, it’s sometimes considered a definite category of frozen dairy-based dessert.

Ingredients

1. 1 liter or 4 ¼ cups Milk
2. 1/3 cup white granulated sugar
3. 2 tablespoons Khoya(mawa) (or use 4 tablespoons of full-fat milk powder)
4. ½ cup Heavy whipping cream or fresh cream or malai
5. ¼ teaspoon Green cardamom seeds powder
6. 4–5 Almonds sliced
7. 4–5 Pistachios sliced
8. 1 tablespoon Rosewater

INSTRUCTIONS

Making malai kulfi recipe:

1. Take milk during a saucepan or wide pan.
2. Bring the milk to the overboil on medium heat. Do stir frequently.
3. Once it comes to a boil, make the warmth to medium-low. Let it cook with stirring occasionally till it becomes 1/3 of the original volume. It took me about 35–40 minutes.
4. Then add sugar and khoya or powdered milk.
5. Mix well and simmer till sugar and khoya are melted. It took me 5 minutes.
6. Then close up the stove heat.
7. Add heavy light whipping cream and stir well.
8. Add cardamom powder and sliced almonds, pistachio. Mix well.
9. Add Rose water and blend.
10. Let it cool completely. it’ll get thicker because it cools.
11. Once it’s cooled to temperature, pour into molds or popsicle molds. Alternately you’ll use small plastic cups or jigger or kullad.
12. Cover it with lid. Or cover with aluminum foil.
13. Let it sit overnight in the freezer or until it’s firm, frozen, and set.
14. Once it’s set or frozen, it’s time to serve.
15. To remove the kulfi from the mold, dip it into warm water for 1–2 seconds only, it’ll begin very easily. Alternately, rub it between your palms. From the warmth of the palm, the side will get loose and can begin from the glass or mold.
16. Garnish with some chopped nuts like pistachios or almonds.

NOTES
Serving malai kulfi

1. Before serving malai kulfi, take the kulfi mold and just warm it by moving it between your palms.
2. With the rear of a spoon, slid through the edges.
3. Place the malai kulfi on a serving plate or tray. Sprinkle some finely chopped pistachios or almonds on top. addition of finely chopped pistachios or almonds is optional and you’ll skip this step.
4. Serve malai kulfi immediately. Notes
5. Tips for creating a malai kulfi recipe:
6. Malai kulfi recipe are often doubled or tripled.
7. Some powdered milk or khoya or mawa also can be added.
8. Low fat cream also as heavy light whipping cream is often used.
9. To confirm that the milk doesn’t get burnt. So simmer on a coffee flame and stir often. Also, use an important bottomed pan or Kadai to form matka kulfi.
10. Rosewater or kewra water is often skipped if you are doing not have them.
11. Use full-fat milk to urge the simplest results.