The easiest ice cream recipe ever! (Pista Kulfi)

Indian ice cream is known as kulfi.

There are many different kinds from pistachio, mango, rose, cardamom and saffron flavors.

The basic ice cream base is 3 ingredients... yes you read that right!

Then you can add whatever you want. In my house growing up the kids didn't like the pistachios, so my mom would make this with M&Ms, oreos or Reese's pieces.

INGREDIENTS:

1 can of evaporated milk
1 can of condensed milk
1 8 oz. tub of Cool Whip
Optional: a splash of vanilla extract

Then choose whatever flavor you want. Rosewater and red food coloring if you want a Rose-flavored ice cream that's pink. Pistachios and green food coloring to make a mint-colored pista kulfi. Mango pulp for the mango kulfi or for a spicy kick cardamom.

DIRECTIONS:

Place all ingredients in a bowl and whip with a hand mixer until it's a thick, creamy liquid. Add flavorings (reserve some of the mix-ins for the top)

Then put in a freezer safe dish or tupperware and freeze for several hours until firm.

Chanar Jalebi

Are you a huge fan of gulab jamun?

Well if you are, Chanar Jalebi is a dessert for you. It's basically gulab jamun, but instead of round balls, the pastries are shaped like pretzels. The pastries is made from cheese, but it's fried and put into syrup.

You fry the pastries and then place them in a simple syrup to soak. Store in syrup in fridge.  

Preparation time: 1 hour

Serves: 6-8 people

Ingredients:

• 1 cup powdered milk (you may need a few tsps. more)
• 1/2 cup wheat flour (set aside 2 tsps. of flour in case)
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp of baking powder
• 4 cups of sugar
• 4 cups of oil for frying (try something without a lot of flavor) 
• 4 cups of water
• 10-12 pods of cardamom

Directions:

Make the dough:

1. In a large bowl, mix the wheat flour, powdered milk and baking powder thoroughly. 
2. Slowly add the heavy cream into the mixture and store constantly.
3. Mix until the dough is soft with a smooth texture. If you need to add more milk or flour to get it to the right consistency, do so. 
4. Set aside the dough and let it rest while you make the syrup.

Make the syrup:

1. In a large pot, add the 4 cups of water, 4 cups of sugar and cardamom pods. Stir until sugar dissolves.
2. Heat until it boils and boil for 5 minutes. 
3. Then turn off the heat and let the syrup continue to cool in the pot.

Back to the dough:

1. Divide the dough into 2 halves. Then into half again. Divide a third time. Divide again. You should 16 balls of dough.
2. To create the pretzel shape, roll the dough ball in between your palms. You want a string of dough about 8 inches long. 
3. Fold the dough into a pretzel by bringing first side over to the center than connect it. Repeat with the other side. 
4. Repeat with all the remaining dough balls.
5. In another large pot, heat the 4 cups of oil until you see it sizzle by putting a small bit of dough into it.
6. Fry the jalebis 4 at a time. Flip when one side is dark brown. They should be dark brown on both sides.
7. Once it's fried, drain them and directly add to syrup water in the other pot. 
8. The jalebis will soak up the syrup as they cool.

Recipe adapted from Bengali home cooking.com.

Desserts: Payesh (Rice Pudding)

So a week or so ago, on my way to interview someone about my master's project, I decided to go grab a Bahn Mi, or a Vietnamese sandwich at Baoguette in Manhattan. When I got to small shop off Lexington Avenue, I was impressed with the small but delicious menu. 

I decided on a Sloppy Bao - spicy curry pork, green mango, cilantro and lemongrass. It's placed on a french baguette - and there was awesome Asian flavor in every bite.

So I'm thinking that this weekend - I will try to experiment with this and create two Indian sandwiches. I'm thinking one with ground lamb and one with pulled chicken... or if I'm really good another vegetarian version.

I'll definitely place the recipes up once I'm done with the experiment.

On a completely different note - I was really craving Indian sweets - which rarely happens - so I thought I'd talk about one of my favorites - rice pudding, or as known in my family - payesh. There are various versions of payesh depending on which part of India a family is from - however one thing is for sure, it's a simple and sweet dessert that is easy to make.

It's also a really easy way to get rid of bad milk. Literally, in my house we knew someone was gonna make payesh when the power went out and the milk went sour. The boiling of the milk removes any bacteria.

Bengali Payesh
serves 4, Soak: 1 hr., Prep: 5 min., Cook: 40 min.

Ingredients:

• 1 liter (about 4 1/4 cups) whole or skim milk (depending on how creamy you want it)
• 1/2 cup basmati rice (soaked for at least one hour)
• 10-12 cashew nuts, chopped
• slivered almonds, 1/4 cup
• 1/4 cup of sugar, or of jaggery**
• 1/4 cups of raisins
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 green cardamoms

** jaggery is a unrefined sugar usual found in block form in Asian grocery stores. It almost looks like dark brown sugar.

Directions: 

1. Bring the milk to a boil in a pan. Add the bay leaves and green cardamoms and let boil further for 8-10 minutes on medium heat. When 3/4 of the milk remains, add the soaked rice, sugar, cashew nuts, almonds and raisins.
2. Reduce heat to low and simmer until only half of the milk remains in the pan and the rice is tender. Keep stirring from time to time throughout the process.
3. Allow to cool.  Cover and refrigerate.