Come summer and we are all looking for different recipes of ice-creams that we can make at home and enjoy. Kulfi is often described as the traditional Indian ice-cream. It’s main ingredients are milk and sugar and the flavors you add are only limited by your imagination.

All of us at home love to have kulfis. In fact, so much that whenever we buy it, kids will make sure they count and divide it such that nobody gets even a tiny bit more than the other..:)

The recipe I am sharing here today is of a basic Malai (cream) Kulfi. You can feel free to experiment with flavors too. Don’t forget to comment and let me know if you try it out.

Few things to keep in mind

• Milk: Full fat / full cream milk is best to make kulfis. But since I couldn’t get that, I have used the regular milk I buy which has medium amount of fat. Hence, I add some fresh cream too in this recipe. With full fat milk, you can skip the cream, but then it doesn’t hurt to make the kulfis more creamier…;) The most important step in making this dish is how patient you are with regards to boiling the milk. The milk has to be boiled and continuously stirred till it reduces to about 1/3rd of the original quantity.
• Sugar: I prefer to keep the kulfis at medium sweetness. But you can add more sugar if you feel it doesn’t seem sweet enough for you.

Recipe

Ingredient List

• Full Cream Milk – 1.5 litres
• Sugar – 1 cup + 1 tbsp (increase it if you feel it isn’t sweet enough for you)
• Cream – 1/4 cup
• Cardamom – 2 (powdered)
• Saffron – a few strands
• Almonds – a few, chopped
• Pistachios – a few, chopped

Step by Step Process

1. Pour the milk into a heavy bottomed sauce pan and start boiling. Continue boiling the milk till it is reduced to about 1/3rd the original quantity. Take care to continuously keep stirring and not to let the milk stick to the bottom or sides of the pan.
2. Once the milk is reduced, add the sugar, cream and saffron, continuously stirring. The saffron strands is what gives that lovely cream color to the kulfis.
3. Add the cardamom powder. This is the main flavoring agent in this recipe.
4. Finally once all above ingredients are incorporated, add the chopped almonds and pistachios.
5. Turn off the heat and let it cool down for sometime. I use small ceramic pots to set this (hence the name matka kulfi). You can also set it in kulfi moulds or any other container you have.
6. The kulfis have to be kept in the freezer till they set well. You can also top it up with some more almonds and pistachios, if you need.
7. Once set, you can enjoy these creamy delicious malai kulfis.