Kulfi – Malai and Mango

31st December 2006. A New Year’s get-together. A chaat party. That is the time I tasted my very first homemade kulfi. It was oh so yum! I asked for the recipe. It seemed ridiculously simple. Was this really the way? Could such great tasting kulfi come from a process as basic as this? It seems so. Because I have given it about 3 trial runs now, and its been a hit each time. Most recently, I made it for Thambi’s birthday party. And the feedback was pretty good. So, on that note, let me share the secret with you. Just remember, make this sparingly, because it involves the most fattening, and most sinful of ingredients! Here we go…

Ingredients for Malai Kulfi

Condensed Milk - 1 can
Evaporated Milk – 1 can (basically, equal portions of condensed and evap. milk)
Heavy Whipping Cream – 2 cups
Almond and Pistachio Powder 1-2 tbsp
Cardamom Powder (optional but nice) – 1/4 tsp
Saffron (Optional but nice )
Few Drops of Kewra Water (Strictly Optional) – I didn’t use it

Method

Mix all the ingredients together in the blender and whip it up for about 2 minutes continuously. Then pour into a container or the kulfi moulds and freeze for 6-8 hours.

Ingredients for Mango Kulfi

[This was something I customised myself from the recipe above.]

Use 1/2 a tin of mango pulp, and slightly reduce the quantity of the condensed milk, say to about 3/4 can. This is because the mango pulp itself is quite sweet, and you can always adjust the sweetness later after blending. Also, reduce the quantity of nuts added. Rest all ingredients are the same, as is the method.

Burrito Bol…

Dear Appu,

Did I tell you that one of our most favorite take away food is a Burrito Bol from Chipotle? We just love it! I can have it any number of times during the week and not get tired of it. And its the one thing that Winkie loves just as passionately. In fact, everytime we pass by that strip mall, or think of ordering out, he’ll ask…Appa, can we have Chipotle mummum?

You might wonder what’s in it. Well, its a whole lot of things, very simple ingredients, which come together very nicely as a very satisfying and almost homemade like meal! R was inspired today to make it at home, so he went grocery shopping and got some of the requisite ingredients. It got me excited too, and together we managed to assemble this and follow as much of the Chipotle style as possible. Let’s run through it together…

Ingredients

Cooked rice (say 1 cup for 2 persons)
Canned black beans, slightly refried at home, whilst adding some coriander and cumin powder and some garlic salt.(optional)
Red onions, green/red/yellow peppers, slit long and baked in the oven at 400F for 20 minutes
Steamed corn (we did it in the microwave for 10 minutes)
Tomato Salsa (either the store bought one or homemade, ours was homemade)
Guacamole
Sour cream
Mexican shredded cheese
Chopped lettuce

Method

Its only a matter of simple putting together. The order goes like this…first some rice, then the black beans on top. Then add the baked/grilled peppers and onions.

Then, add the salsa and the steamed corn. And finally the guacamole, sour cream, shredded cheese and lettuce. As an additional touch, we added some alfalfa sprouts since we had some that we wanted to finish. It adds to the nice fresh and crunchy texture of the bol.

Healthy, yummy and easy to do, all at once! What more can you ask for from food?

Love,
Thara.