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