Indians are known for their sweet tooth. India is a country where sweets and desserts after meals are a must and make the lunch or dinner complete. Be it a festival or any other occasion worth celebrating, desserts and sweets will be the first thing on anyone’s mind.

Kulfi is one of the finest and most loved frozen milk desserts. Its mouth-melting and mouth-watering taste leads to unstoppable craving for it.

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Kulfi originated in the Mughal Empire during the 16th century in the Indian subcontinent. The creamy, frozen beauty is a famous delight to have especially in the summer season. Made of full cream milk, mawa, saffron, nuts and sugar, it is cooked on a slow burner until the milk gets thickened and dense . The thickened milk is finally flavoured with cardamom, saffron and nuts and then it is kept in a freezer to solidify in special kulfi moulds. When you eat it, its creamy texture, dripping sweetened milky liquid and silky frozen bites will make you crave for more and more. Learn how to make kulfi, a traditional Indian dessert at home. It is popular all over the world and is also known as ‘Shahi Kulfi’ due to its rich taste and royal texture.

Serves: 6-8

Preparation time: 60-90 minutes

Ingredients

Full cream milk: 1 ½ litres

Khoya: 100grams

Saffron strands: 15-20

Almonds: 20-30

Cashews: 20-30

Unsalted pistachios: 20-30 (shelled)

Cardamom powder: 1 tsp

Sugar: 6-8 tbsp

Method

In a thick-bottomed pan, give a boil to milk on high flame. Simmer it on medium-low flame for 45 minutes or until it becomes thick and dense, reduce it to almost half of the original quantity.

Add grated khoya and keep stirring for 10 to 15 minutes so that it should become more thick, creamy, smooth and lump-free.

Add coarsely chopped almonds, cashews and pistachios. Give a good stir and mix all ingredients well.

Add sugar and mix until it gets dissolved in thickened milk completely. Turn off  the flame. Add crushed saffron strands and cardamom powder. Mix well and allow it to cool. You can add a spoon full of kewra or rose water also at this stage if you love its flavour.

When the kulfi liquid gets cool down, stir it and fill it in kulfi moulds and deep freeze for eight hours or until the kulfi freezes.

At the time of serving, take kulfi moulds out of the freezer and de-mould them.

Cut into big pieces and serve immediately.

Kulfi is a North Indian speciality with ‘Old Delhi’ being the best place to have it if you cannot make it at home. Here, this sweet dish is found in its most genuine flavour and pure form. It is also a dessert among street foods of Northern India which causes an explosion of milky sweetness in your mouth. This sweet will give you mouthful of pleasure and mesmerise your senses quite literally.

If you have not tried kulfi yet, it is worth trying.

Kulfi tastes awesome if it is topped with sweetened flavoured falooda. Simply perfect for any occasion or festive season. If you want to make falooda at home, here is a quick recipe:

Take one cup of ready-made vermicelli and boil it in plenty of water until soft but not mushy. Drain the water and rinse boiled vermicelli with cold water immediately. Take one litre of water in a pan. Add two cups of sugar into it and give a boil on high flame. Simmer it on low flame for 15 to 20 minutes. Turn off the flame and let it cool. Add boiled vermicelli to this sweetened water and refrigerate for four to five hours. When you serve the kulfi, just de-mould it and cut into four big pieces. Scatter sweetened vermicelli generously draining sugar syrup on top of the kulfi. Sprinkle little kewra or rose water and serve.