Maple Walnut Kulfi

maple walnut kulfiI like ice cream. No. I LOVE ice cream.  So much so, that I cannot keep it in my house.  I have been known, on too many occasions, to wake up in the middle of the night for a small taste and then realize that I have finished entire pint. Perhaps that is why I like kulfi, also known as ‘ice candy’, the Indian version of ice cream.  Kulfi is made by evaporating the water from milk, then sweetening and flavouring it before it is frozen.  This process creates a dense frozen dessert which thaws much slower than traditional custard based whipped ice creams. In the street, the kulfiwallah serves it on a stick, like a popsicle, but in high end restaurants it is offered as an element of a dessert.

When living in Delhi I was asked to cater an event which highlighted Canadian products. The warm season had arrived and I felt that a uniquely Canadian kulfi needed to finish the meal. Maple syrup and walnuts came to mind and so maple walnut kulfi was created.

With milk being the key ingredient I think it is important to use a reliable, full flavoured product. Recently at work, I was introduced to the fantastic milk of a cooperative dairy, Laterie de l’Outaouais, located across the river from Ottawa in Gatineau.  This employee owned dairy focuses on purchasing quality milk from farmers and then minimizing pasteurization to get a full flavoured, rich tasty product.  By far the best milk I have tasted in a long time. The maple syrup also comes from a nearby sugar shack in the Gatineau Hills.

Maple Walnut Kulfi
 
Ingredients
  • 3 litres (12 cups) full fat milk
  • 1 cup maple syrup, amber or dark
  • ½ cup walnuts, toasted and then finely chopped
  • ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
Instructions
Make the rabarhi (homemade evaporated milk)
Place milk in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer gently for about 45 minutes. Occasionally, whisk milk and bottom of pot to ensure that the milk solids do not catch and burn on the bottom. Reduce the milk by two-thirds until you have 1 litre. The reduced milk will be a light brown colour and have some small chunks of milk solids. Pour the reduced milk into another container to let cool to room temperature.

Place the reduced milk, maple syrup and , chopped walnuts and ground cardamom in a blender and puree well.

Pour the mixture to almost the top of each popsicle mould. Cover the top of the mould tightly with a piece of aluminum foil. Carefully press on the top of the aluminum foil to carefully see the outline of each popsicle filling. Using a paring knife pierce the aluminum foil in the center of each mould. Insert a popsicle stick fully into each opening (see photo below). Place in a freezer and freeze for a minimum of 4 hours or preferably overnight. (Most recipes suggest placing the popsicle sticks in when it is semi-frozen. Doing it the way I suggested means you can simply walk away and not worry about when is it semi frozen).

To unmold the kulfi, quickly run the sides of the moulds under warm water and carefully put out the frozen kulfi.
Notes
I have seen many recipes which suggest using canned condensed milk to make kulfi. Condensed milk is often sweetened with additional sugar and in the case of this recipe will make the final product too sweet. Similarly, in other recipes you most likely will need to reduce the sugar added when using canned condensed milk. My personal feeling it to make the rabarhi in order to produce a more natural less sweet kulfi.

Inserting popsicle sticks into moulds for maple walnut kulfi

Placing aluminum foil over the popsicle moulds and lightly press down. Make small slits with a paring knife in teh centre. This will help keep the popsicle sticks in the middle of the kulfi.

NOTE: This was originally posted on my blog India On My Plate on July 6, 2011