How to Make Cardamom Badam Kulfi

Spiced Indian Frozen Ice Cream Dessert with Ground Almonds

Aug 9, 2009 Renee Shelton

Kulfi is an Indian frozen dessert that isn't churned like a traditional ice cream, just poured into molds and frozen. It is commonly flavored with spices and nuts.

Kulfi is a dairy-based Indian creamy frozen dessert similar to ice cream but isn't churned. The ingredients, which range from a few to many, are mixed then poured into molds and then frozen. It is most commonly spiced with cardamom (either ground or in pods) and flavored with either pistachios or almonds. Other popular flavors include mango and saffron.

There are a number of ways to make it but mostly based on a similar theme: the milk used is reduced or concentrated. A traditional way to make kulfi is by boiling and reducing whole milk down, usually with a spice to infuse the milk. Sugar is then added for sweetening, along with other flavorings such as ground or chopped nuts.

The recipe below uses a boiled milk reduction as the base for the kulfi.

Badam Kulfi (Almond Flavored Kulfi)

Ingredients:

• 6 cups whole milk
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds, ground

Procedure:

1. The first thing to do is round up the molds you'll be using. Use either popsicle molds you have on hand, tall stainless steel baba baking molds, traditional kulfi molds or paper cups. If you are using molds with no tops to them, insert wooden popsicle sticks in the center after the mixture has frozen for a couple of hours: until it is stiff enough to hold the stick upright but not frozen solid yet.
2. Place the milk into a large, heavy saucepot. A large one with a greater surface area for the milk will make it cook faster. Add in the ground cardamom.
3. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to medium or medium-high, where it is constantly held at a low boil without boiling over.
4. Stirring constantly, continue cooking the milk until it is reduced to about a third of the original volume of the milk.
5. Remove from heat and add in the sugar, using more or less to taste. Stir in the ground blanched almonds. Pour the mixture into a smaller bowl set over ice water. This will chill the mixture down faster. Stir occasionally as it is cooling.
6. Pour the kulfi mixture into desired molds and freeze until firm, several hours later. When pouring into the molds, note that the mixture expands slightly as if freezes, so allow for room for freezer expansion for the kulfi.
7. To serve, dip the non-paper molds into hot water for a few seconds to remove the moldings. If paper molds are used, remove from freezer and tear off before serving.

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Frozen Kulfi on a Stick

Reduce the milk until about 1/3 the volume.

Chilling the reduced liquid in ice water.