Kulfi
قلفی
Kulfi is the frozen dessert of Pakistani summers, sold from clay pots on carts and sliced onto leaves or sticks at food streets. Unlike ice cream it is never churned or whipped, so it is dense, creamy and melts slowly. Everything depends on reducing the milk properly: cooked down to less than half, it freezes smooth instead of icy, and takes on the faintly caramel taste that real kulfi has.
- ⏱ Total: 1 hr 5 min
- Prep: 10 min
- Cook: 55 min
- Medium
- Serves 6
Method
Tap a step when it is done.
Pour the milk into a heavy or wide pan and bring it to a boil over high heat, stirring now and then.
Lower the heat to medium-low and let the milk simmer for 40–45 minutes, until it has reduced to less than half, about 400 ml. Stir every few minutes, scraping the bottom, and pull the cream that sets on the sides back into the milk.
Whisk the milk powder with 3–4 tablespoons of the hot milk into a smooth paste, then stir it into the pan along with the sugar. Cook for 5 more minutes, stirring, until it coats the back of a spoon.
Turn off the heat and stir in the cardamom, pistachios, almonds and kewra. Let it cool completely, stirring occasionally so no skin forms.
Pour the cooled mixture into kulfi moulds, small cups or a steel box. Cover tightly with lids or foil and freeze for at least 8 hours, or overnight, until completely firm.
To unmould, dip each mould in warm water for 10 seconds or roll it between your palms, then slide the kulfi out. Slice it into rounds and serve at once with extra chopped pistachios.
Kitchen notes
Use a wide pan, not a deep pot. The larger surface lets the milk reduce in half the time.
Do not skip the reduction. Thin milk freezes into icy, hard kulfi with crystals.
Without kulfi moulds, small paper cups covered with foil work well. Push an ice-cream stick through the foil before freezing.
Summer on a stick
Kulfi has been made in the subcontinent for centuries, long before electric freezers, by packing sealed cone-shaped metal moulds into clay pots filled with ice and salt. In Pakistan the kulfi wala with his matka is still a summer sight, and food streets serve it sliced on a leaf, sometimes with falooda noodles and rose syrup. At home it is the easiest frozen dessert there is: no ice-cream machine, no whipping, just milk, sugar and patience.
Reduction is the whole recipe
Ice cream gets its softness from air whipped or churned into it. Kulfi has almost none, so its texture comes from how little water is left in the milk. Simmering a litre of milk down to about 400 ml concentrates the milk solids, which keeps large ice crystals from forming and gives kulfi its dense, chewy, slow-melting bite. The long cooking also lightly caramelises the milk sugar, which is where kulfi gets its warm colour and faintly nutty taste. A wide pan, steady medium-low heat and regular scraping of the bottom and sides are all it takes. The bits of cream scraped from the sides are welcome: they give the finished kulfi small, soft flecks.
Variations
- Malai kulfi: keep it plain with just cardamom, the way kulfi walas sell it.
- Mango kulfi: cool the reduced milk, then stir in a cup of thick mango pulp before freezing.
- Khoya kulfi: replace the milk powder with 50 g of crumbled for a richer, more traditional flavour.
- Kulfi falooda: serve slices over boiled falooda noodles with a drizzle of rose syrup.
Storing and serving
Keep the moulds tightly covered in the freezer and use within a month. Take kulfi out only when you are ready to eat it; it is dense enough to hold its shape for a few minutes, but it is best sliced straight from the mould.
Questions people ask
Why is my kulfi icy?
The milk was not reduced enough, so there was too much water left to freeze into crystals. Cook it down to less than half its volume, and add the milk powder for extra body.
Can I make a quicker kulfi?
Yes. Simmer 2 cups of milk with half a tin of condensed milk and 2 tablespoons of milk powder for 10 minutes, then add the cardamom and nuts and freeze. It is sweeter and less nutty but still creamy.
How long does kulfi keep in the freezer?
Up to a month if the moulds are tightly covered. After that it starts to pick up freezer smells and ice crystals.
Nutrition (estimate, per serving)
- Calories
- 210
- Protein
- 8 g
- Fat
- 10 g
- Carbs
- 22 g
