Almond Pista Kulfi

I do not know about now but till a decade and a half ago, if you had spent any amount of time in Coimbatore called Manchester of South India, located in the Western part of Tamil Nadu and bordering the state of Kerala and blessed with a pleasant climate, you had not gone without a visit to the chain of hotels (we'd call them restaurants here) called Annapoorna and GowriShankar. I spent a considerable amount of time in this city while in school, college and as a fresh graduate with a job on hand.

Compared to some of the hostel and boarding food our college hostel food was not all that bad, even then eating it every single day was a chore. This meant every chance we got we visited the above mentioned hotel. Those days a Rs. 10 (today's rate $1 == Rs.47) bought us 2 masala dosais, 2 vadais and sometimes 2 kulfis as well. Oh! by the way did you hear know about the new Rupee symbol?

freshly churned

Everyone who was staying back in the hostel for the weekend was ready for an outing by Sunday afternoon. But for movies and restaurant there was not much in those days. Anyway if you are at the restaurant during tea time generally between 2-5PM you were in for a special treat of peas masala roast and cauliflower roast. Only available in certain branches, for those familiar with Coimbatore and curious to know it was the Lakshmi Complex Annapoora. These two generally ran out much quicker than the other dosai items should perhaps speak for their popularity.

I am digressing, not. Dosai is not the star of this post but kulfi. Coming to kulfi, Annapoorna in those days served kulfi in small earthenware pots, creamy and meltingly delicious. One pot was just not enough. Back then fat, calories and pounds were the last things on our mind but pocket money was front and center.

Talking of the restaurant another incident comes to mind, this one more recently. Last year on our last visit home we happened to stop by the same restaurant at the location mentioned above. Lunch time not surprisingly was crowded with everyone jostling and fighting for tables to become available. We found one and DD2,DD, their cousin and me sat down while my mom and aunt went to wash their hands. DD2 was playing with the two one rupee coins she had in her hands, the waiter who was cleaning the table in the process also cleaned out her hands. DD2 started crying and quickly figuring out what had happened I asked the waiter who promptly and a little sheepishly returned the coins. My mom and aunt came back just as he was handing over the coins and were not particularly impressed and said we could have given her 2 other coins and also mentioned that perhaps he was under the impression that the previous occupants of the table had left the tip. After a few minutes I realized what they said would have been the better course of action. Why? Not justifying what the waiter did but he does not particularly make a whole load of money and the loss that would not have hurt us in any way. What bothered me most was if the isolating lifestyle in the US had dulled me to the more finer, subtler sensibilities of life.

Dear readers, What would you have done in such a situation?

As for the kulfi recipe, there are as many recipes as there are kulfi makers, which by Indian standards is quite a lot. Here goes my version of the recipe to add to the ever growing numbers.

with some fresh figs

In making this recipe I realized one more important truth! about the difference in Indian and American ice creams. American ice creams are generally heavy and very fatty whereas Indian ice creams genreally are lighter and not as fatty. The reason IMHO, lies in the way the ice creams are made. The creaminess for the American ice cream comes from its name sake- heavy cream, whereas the Indian ice cream gets its creaminess from reducing milk by heating it for an extended period of time. The thickened milk does not allow for crystals to form also another reason why there is no need to churn so much.

I have an ice cream maker so I ended up churning it but that is non-requirement as far as kulfi is concerned.

Almond Pistachio Kulfi
Ingredients
1. 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
2. 2 cups of whole milk + 1 tbsp (for mixing the custard powder)
3. 1 heaped tbsp of custard powder or corn starch (I used custard powder)
4. 1/4 cup of sugar or even less (combine the condensed milk and whole milk, taste and add sugar if required)
5. 1 cup of roasted pistachios and almonds
6. 1 tsp cardamom seeds powdered

Method
1. In a heavy bottomed pan combine the condensed milk and whole milk. Give it a taste if more sweet is required add sugar. Remember you are reducing the milk, so it tends to get sweeter and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to below medium and let it simmer for 30-45 minutes.
2. Mix the custard powder in cold milk, whisk to combine and add it to the boiling milk, stirring as you are adding it
3. Let it boil for 10 more minutes ot till the milk is solid enough to coat the sides of the spoon. Turn of the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Keep stirring occasionally to avoid a film forming on the surface
4. Powder the nuts to grainy consistency and NOT to a fine powder and mix them into the thickened milk after it has cooled.
5.Churn them in a ice cream maker for 30 minutes (a purely optional step) and then let them ripen in the refrigerator for 6 hours or overnight.
(OR)
For those not using the ice cream maker, just freeze the mixture in the refrigerator for 8 hours or more till it sets. Mixing it in every few hours is optional. If you were using moulds this would not be possible so it is purely upto you

Creamy delicious kulfi is ready to be served

I am sitting out American ice creams for a while. Kulfis offer a wide range and Fresh mango kulfis have to be tried before the season runs out.