Mango Kulfa

Kulfa is a traditional Pakistani/Indian ice-cream that doesn't need to be churned. It is a summer dessert that's not just served at traditional occasions, dinners, parties but also is enjoyed regularly to beat the heat. Authentically its made with full fat milk, Khoya (milk solids), cardamom powder or saffron and nuts and then frozen till set. It is then cut into slices and served. The same mixture is poured into cone-like moulds to turn them into popsicles called Kulfi.

Kulfa/Kulfi is also added into a milk dessert-drink called Falooda in which a special kind of vermicelli is used along with thickened full-cream milk called Rabri, nuts, chilled milk, and soaked basil seeds called Thukm-e-Balanga is Urdu and is a very popular and refreshing dessert.

Kulfa mixture should be chilled before freezing to prevent crystallization.

During the mango season, I try to make full use of the fresh fruit available in abundances here by incorporating it into the desserts, jams, chutneys e.t.c. I've shared the recipe of my Mango & Coconut Frozen Yogurt on the blog already but this year I have also tried making Salsa with it. The recipe of my Mango Salsa can be found here. 

As I am more of a dessert person and I most definitely like our traditional Kulfa. My family always gets annoyed when I suggest we get the family pack of it every time we have ice-cream for dessert as no one else is a fan of it at mine :D But I had never tried Mango Kulfa before. My best friend Fayee was preparing a dessert for her sister's baby shower and during one of our conversations, she mentioned that to me. I then had to ask her for the recipe of course as I was intrigued and wanted to give it a try at home myself. I got the basic recipe from her that I had to improvise a bit cause of me being me :D I hope she doesn't get offended after reading this but I felt my version turned out more like Kulfa and hers was just a no-churn version of a homemade mango ice-cream :P She used canned pulp but I made pulp with fresh mangoes. You can use the canned one if fresh mangoes aren't available; we do not want any excuses to not to try this dessert. I also used white bread slices as the addition prevents crystallization, added cardamom powder, saffron essence and garnished the Kulfa with some chopped pistachios. I couldn't share my creation with her because of her living in a different country but she did approve of the photo of it I sent her :) My family however loved it and while I'm typing these lines, I got a request from my sister to make it again as she got a peek of the photo of the Mango Kulfa on the computer screen :D

Let's get some dessert love unleashed today, cooks! :D

Mango Kulfa

Ingredients:

Mango Pulp: 1 1/2 cups (made with 2 large mangoes or use canned instead) 

Condensed milk: 1/2 cup.

Evaporated milk: 1/2 cup.

Full Fat Cream: 1 cup.

Full Fat milk: 1 cup.

Sugar: according to taste (add only if the mangoes aren't sweet enough)

Bread slices (edges removed): 2 (the addition prevents from crystallization)

Green Cardamom Powder: 1/4 tsp.

Saffron Essence: 1,2 drops

Chopped Pistachios: 1/4 cup (save some for garnishing)

Method:

1. Put everything into a blender and whiz until well blended. 
2. Pour the prepared mixture into an airtight plastic, freezer-safe box and let it chill well before placing it into a freezer.
3. Freeze it for 8-10 hours or over-night and cut into slices/pieces once frozen. 
4. Sprinkle some chopped pistachios on top before serving.
5. The same mixture can be poured into the Kulfi/Popsicle moulds instead for the individual servings. Enjoy!

Serves 4-6

That's all cooks! :) the amount of ingredients can always be adjusted according to your taste and desire. I hope you enjoy making and having it. Until next time, keep sharing the goodness of this greatest blessing, that has been bestowed in abundance upon us the lucky ones, with the less fortunate ones.
Thank you and please remember in your Du'as/prayers! :)

*Not be duplicated, rewritten or published without permission- Thank you!