Absolutely nothing prevents the summertime consumption of mango delights. Don't you think mangoes and frozen desserts go along like best friends? In India, ice cream and kulfi are popular during the summer. Basically, kulfi is a frozen Indian delicacy usually made using dried milk solids called khoya or thickened, sweetened milk known as Rabri (Mawa).
The milk is slowly simmered and decreased while preparing kulfi the traditional way using rabri, which takes a lot of time. You need to stir the milk regularly, which works your arms well. Kulfi's texture is not comparable to ice cream's. A kulfi is thick, in contrast to the light, fluffy, and delicate texture of ice cream. Due to the difference in texture, ice cream melts in your mouth, but kulfis need you to bite them.
Kulfi was born in the 16th century, during the reign of Akbar and roughly in the middle of the Mughal era. At the time, frozen evaporated and condensed milk was an uncommon component in Indian sweets. Saffron and pistachios were used by the Mughals to add flavor to this dish. After mixing it, they placed it in metal cones (of the sort still in use today) and allowed it to freeze. Naturally, since they didn't have access to refrigeration or other standard freezing techniques, they employed a slurry of ice and salt to freeze the kulfi.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of milk (whole milk)
- 200 grams of sweetened condensed milk (milkmaid), which is about equivalent to 1/2 a can (tin) or 3/4 cup
- 1/2 cup cream, either heavy, whipping, or light
- 4 green cardamoms, coarsely ground in a mortar and pestle, or 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1 cup of mango, chopped
- 1 pinch of crushed saffron threads (optional)
Instructions to make Mango Kulfi
- Blend everything in a blender until smooth, leaving out the cream, cardamom powder, and saffron
- After that, add in the cream, cardamom powder, and saffron
- Blend the ingredients until all the cream has been thoroughly blended
- Test the sweetness by tasting it, and if you think it needs more sweetness, add 1 to 2 teaspoons of sweetened condensed milk. Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of cream if the sweetness is too sweet for you. Blend once more
- In tiny bowls or kulfi molds, pour the kulfi mixture
- Seal with aluminum foil or cover securely with a lid. The kulfi has to be kept in the freezer for 6 to 8 hours to set
- Serve the mango kulfi after it has set.
Suggestions for Serving
- Slice the kulfi and serve it. Sprinkle cardamom powder or saffron powder on plates or bowls
- Additionally, prepared falooda sev (thin vermicelli) and soaked sabja seeds can be served with it. While serving, you can also drizzle some rose syrup over the pieces of mango kulfi
- You may either serve kulfi with rosewater or kewra water (pandanus water), or you can just eat it plain
- Any surplus mango kulfi may be refrigerated for a few weeks. Mango kulfi may also be prepared in bulk and kept frozen for a month.
