Thandai Badam Kulfi.
A holi festival staple for Indian homes is making and relishing thandai in various forms. This kulfi is made with homemade thandai paste which is a traditional recipe shared by my mom in law. However, making this kulfi is truly labour of love and needs elbow grease. I don’t use cornflour to thicken the milk but cook on low flame for hours for it to thicken and maintain that delicious taste. I use iron kadhai to cook milk until it reduces to the desired consistency but feel free to use any thick bottom kadhai for it.
How to make this –
Ingredients – makes 3 cups thandai paste and 6 kulfis (leftover thandai paste can be used later for thandai milk or more recipes).
Thandai paste ingredients –
25 gms of each –
Almonds
Cashews
Khuskhus/poppy seeds
Fennel seeds/saunf
Melon seeds/kharbuje ke beej
Whole black pepper
50 gms dried rose petals
3 gms cardamom
500 gms sugar
Method –
Soak poppy seeds, almonds, cashews and melon seeds overnight or for 5 hours.
Now make chashni (sugar syrup) of 2 string consistency and let it cool down. To make this, cook sugar and water on low flame until the syrupy consistency is formed. Now to test, using a spoon put a drop of syrup on a plate and let it cool down. Then put a finger on it and lift the finger and you will see two strings formed. That’s the cue to stop cooking the syrup further.
Mix all the soaked and other ingredients together and grind into a smooth paste (use a little water if needed). Mix it with the chashni and store it in a bottle in the refrigerator.
Kulfi ingredients –
1 litre full fat milk
1/4 cup dry fruits – chopped fine (I used more almonds and pistachios)
3/4 cup thandai paste
Method –
In a heavy bottom kadhai or iron kadhai, bring the milk to a gentle boil. Put it on simmer, and cook for 5 mins. Add the thandai paste.
Cook it until it reduces to 1/3 consistency. Keep scraping the sides to incorporate the cream back into the milk.
This requires frequent (read almost continuous) stirring the milk and it takes somewhere between 90 to 120 mins.
Mix in the dry fruits in the last 15 mins. Once the milk has thickened and reduced to 1/3rd consistency, switch off the flame and transfer it to another bowl. Let it cool to room temperature.
Fill it in kulfi moulds or in small steel glasses, cover with aluminium foil and let it freeze for at least 5 hours. Insert the stick half way through the freezing.
Enjoy!!!
If you like this thandai badam kulfi do let me know in the comments below. You can also connect with me on my Instagramand Facebook handles.
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