Easy Pistachio Kulfi / Indian Pistachio Ice cream

        

 

  Temperature is climbing up steadily and it's almost summer here. It's not that easy to sit on  a park bench watching kids play while the sun is up, though the kids never seem to notice. After sitting there for half an hour in the afternoons, I  somehow crave for the shade of a tree or the coolness of our flat. Maybe, I am growing old ;)

                 Watching the kids, I slowly get carried away into the unlimited exuberance of my own childhood. I was a 'play crazy girl'. That's what my mom used to say. So crazy about it, that I hardly had time for food or sleep.. or to sit in the shade for a while as the elders used to command. So obsessed with it, that the thought of the school reopening after the summer vacation, used to reduce me into tears. In the tired sleeps, I used to dream that my school had collapsed in an earth quake and my teachers were all under the earth. Yes! It was one of the happiest dreams of those days!

               So, when I watch my kids playing in the sun as if there is no tomorrow, I don't feel like stopping them. I enjoy watching them enjoying..And after the games, they return literally exhausted. No wonder, the ice cream man in the park has so much business. These days, no visit to the park ends without an ice lolly for each of the boys. They simply love them and think it their right to have one after play time. Even at home, they ask for ice lollies and ice creams now n then, ever since the temperature began climbing up. So I have made it  a habit  of making those cold treats at home every now n then.

             This time I thought, I must make 'kulfi' the Indian ice cream which sweetly cools the inside with memories of childhood. Yes, kulfi was an integral part of those memories; though we were seldom allowed to buy them as other children in our village used to do. The elders used to terrorize us with stories of how it's made with contaminated water and how it causes diarrhoea and sickness. Nevertheless, we kids always longed for the day when we would get those simply alluring kulfis and looked at the kulfi carts with longing.To compensate the hurt of not buying us kulfis, mom used to make ice lollies for us by freezing orange squash in the ice tray with small 'irkilis'(needle like parts of coconut leaves) immersed in it. We enjoyed it then more than the 'Baskin n Robbins'  of this time.

          Ahem!! So where did we stop? I just got carried away..
        Oh! Yes! Kulfi....the home made Indian ice cream to welcome the summer.
                 Pistachio kulfi is my favourite..
            Let's delve into the recipe right away...


Things you need:

500ml full cream milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup milk powder
3/4 cup sugar/to taste
2 tbsp corn flour/corn starch
1 tsp powdered cardamom
2 tbsp pistachio extract
1/4 cup pistachios, coarsely ground

Method:

Heat milk and sugar in a large sauce pan, stirring continuously until the sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat and add condensed milk and milk powder stirring constantly,until the mixture is well blended. Dissolve corn flour in 1/4 cup of cold milk and add it slowly into the mixture, stirring well until the mixture slightly thickens. Remove from heat and add cardamom powder, pistachio extract and half of the ground pistachios. Stir well and let cool to room temperature. Transfer into individual glasses or kulfi moulds. Keep in the freezer to set for 3 hours. When it starts to solidify, take out and stir well . Again keep into the freezer and let set for 6 to 8 hours. Unmould into a plate or pudding bowl and garnish with the  remaining pistachios before serving. Enjoy!