Kulfi

Last updated

Kulfi
Matka kulfi.jpg
Kulfi in a matka
Type Ice cream
Course Dessert
Region or state South Asia [1]
Delhi [2]
Associated cuisine Pakistani Indian Bangladeshi
Main ingredients Milk, sugar

Kulfi ( /kʊlfiː/ ) is a frozen dairy dessert from the Indian subcontinent. It is often described as "traditional Indian ice cream". [3] Kulfi originated in 16th-century Delhi during the Mughal era. It is part of the national cuisines of India and Pakistan.[ citation needed ] It is also popular in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Middle East. [4] [ better source needed ]

Contents

Kulfi is denser and creamier than regular ice cream. [3] [4] [5] It comes in various flavours. Traditional ones include cream ( malai ), rose, mango, cardamom (elaichi), saffron (kesar or zafran), and pistachio. [4] [6] [ better source needed ] Newer flavours may include apple, orange, strawberry, peanut, or avocado. [4] [ better source needed ] Unlike ice cream, kulfi is not whipped, which results in a solid, dense dessert similar to frozen custard. Thus, it is sometimes considered a distinct category of frozen dairy-based dessert. [5] The density of kulfi causes it to melt more slowly than ice cream. [7]

History

The word kulfi comes from the Persian qulfi (قلفی) meaning "covered cup". The dessert originated in Delhi during the Mughal Empire in the 16th century. [1] [2] [8] The mixture of dense evaporated milk was already popular in the sweet dishes in the Indian subcontinent. During the Mughal period, this mixture was flavoured with pistachios and saffron, packed into metal cones and immersed in slurry ice, resulting in the invention of kulfi. Ain-i-Akbari , a detailed record of the Mughal emperor Akbar's administration, mentions use of saltpeter for refrigeration as well as transportation of Himalayan ice to warmer areas. [1] [8]

Although Delhi has been described as the birthplace of kulfi, Australian food historian Charmaine O'Brien suggests, "...it is likely that [kulfi] originally evolved in the cooler climates of Persia or Samarkand and that the Mughals appropriated the concept and elaborated on it to create the creamy, perfumed dessert that it now is." [2]

Preparation

To prepare kulfi, sweetened, flavoured milk is slow cooked. The milk is stirred almost continuously to prevent it from sticking to the cooking utensil. During this process, the milk condenses and thickens. [9] The slow cooking caramelises the sugar in the mixture and browns its milk proteins, giving kulfi its distinctive taste. [6] [10] The mixture is then poured into moulds (often kulhars) and sealed. The sealed moulds are submerged in an insulated matka filled with ice and salt. This quickly freezes the mixture, giving it a soft, smooth consistency free of ice crystals. Kulfi prepared in this traditional way is called matka kulfi. [11]

The moulds are removed from the freezer 10–15 minutes before serving to allow the kulfi to melt slightly. The kulfi is then removed from the moulds and garnished with ground cardamom, saffron, or pistachios. Kulfi is also served with falooda (vermicelli noodles). [12]

Retail sales

Throughout the Indian subcontinent, kulfi is sold by street vendors known as kulfiwallahs. It is also commonly served in Indian restaurants. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ice cream</span> Frozen dessert

Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food colouring is sometimes added in addition to stabilizers. The mixture is cooled below the freezing point of water and stirred to incorporate air spaces and prevent detectable ice crystals from forming. It can also be made by whisking a flavoured cream base and liquid nitrogen together. The result is a smooth, semi-solid foam that is solid at very low temperatures. It becomes more malleable as its temperature increases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulab jamun</span> Milk-solid-based sweet from the Indian subcontinent

Gulab jamun is a sweet confectionary or dessert, originating in the Indian subcontinent and a type of mithai popular in India, Pakistan, Nepal, the Maldives and Bangladesh, as well as Myanmar. It is also common in nations with substantial populations of people with South Asian heritage, such as Mauritius, Fiji, Gulf states, the Malay Peninsula, Great Britain, South Africa, and the Caribbean countries of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname.

<i>Falooda</i> Mughlai cuisine dessert

A falooda is a Mughalai cold dessert made with vermicelli. It has origins in the Persian dish faloodeh, variants of which are found across West, Central, South and Southeast Asia. Traditionally it is made by mixing rose syrup, vermicelli, and sweet basil seeds with milk, often served with ice cream. The vermicelli used for preparing falooda is made from wheat, arrowroot, cornstarch, or sago.

<i>Barfi</i> Milk-based sweet from the Indian subcontinent

Barfi or burfi is a milk-based sweet from the Indian subcontinent with a fudge-like consistency. Its name comes from the Persian and Urdu word (barf) for snow. Barfi is consumed throughout India and Pakistan and is especially popular in North India. It is often served at celebrations and religious festivals such as Diwali and Holi.

Mithai (sweets) are the confectionery and desserts of the Indian subcontinent. Thousands of dedicated shops in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka sell nothing but sweets.

Khoa, khoya, khowa or mawa is a dairy food widely used in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent, encompassing India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It is made of either dried whole milk or milk thickened by heating in an open iron pan. It is lower in moisture than typical fresh cheeses such as ricotta. It is made up of whole milk instead of whey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sindhi cuisine</span> Cuisine of the Sindh, Pakistan

Sindhi cuisine refers to the distinct native cuisine of the Sindhi people from Sindh, Pakistan. Sindhi cuisine has been influenced by Central Asian, Iranian, Mughal food traditions. It is mostly a non-vegetarian cuisine, with even Sindhi Hindus widely accepting of meat consumption. The daily food in most Sindhi households consists of wheat-based flat-bread (Mani) or rice accompanied by two dishes, one gravy and one dry with curd, papad or pickle. Freshwater fish and a wide variety of vegetables are usually used in Sindhi cuisine. Restaurants specializing in Sindhi cuisine are rare, although it is found at truck stops in rural areas of Sindh province, and in a few restaurants in urban Sindh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basundi</span> Indian sweet

Basundi is an Indian sweet mostly in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It is a sweetened condensed milk made by boiling milk on low heat until the milk is reduced by half. In North India, a similar dish goes by the name rabri.

<i>Faloodeh</i> Traditional Iranian cold dessert

Faloodeh or paloodeh is a traditional Iranian cold dessert similar to a sorbet. It consists of thin vermicelli-sized noodles made from starch in a semi-frozen syrup containing sugar and rose water. Faloodeh is often served with lime juice and sometimes ground pistachios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheer khurma</span> Eid dessert; vermicelli pudding

Sheer khurma or sheer khorma is a festival vermicelli pudding prepared by Muslims on Eid ul-Fitr and Eid al-Adha in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and parts of Central Asia. It is equivalent to shemai, a Bangladeshi dessert. It is a traditional Muslim festive breakfast, and a dessert for celebrations. This dish is made from various dry fruits, vermicelli, condensed milk, sugar etc. Depending on the region, cardamom, pistachios, almonds, cloves, saffron, raisins, and rose water are also added.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mughlai cuisine</span> Dishes developed in the Mughal Empire

Mughlai cuisine consists of dishes developed or popularised in the early-modern Indo-Persian cultural centres of the Mughal Empire. It represents a combination of cuisine of the Indian subcontinent with the cooking styles and recipes of Central Asian and Islamic cuisine. Mughlai cuisine is strongly influenced by the Turkic cuisine of Central Asia, the region where the early Mughal emperors originally hailed from, and it has in turn strongly influenced the regional cuisines of Northern India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sohan halwa</span> South Asian dessert

Sohan halwa is a traditional Mughlai dessert from Punjab, popular in the Indian subcontinent, which is a variety of dense, sweet confection or halwa. Gheewala halwa is popular for sohan halwa since the Mughal era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zarda (food)</span> Indian traditional boiled sweet rice dish

Zarda is a traditional boiled sweet rice dish, native to the Indian subcontinent, made with saffron, milk and sugar, and flavoured with cardamom, raisins, pistachios or almonds. The name 'zarda' comes from Persian word 'zard' زرد meaning 'yellow', because the food coloring added to the rice gives it a yellow color. Zarda is typically served after a meal. In the Indian subcontinent, zarda was and still remains a popular dessert on special occasions such as weddings. It is quite similar to sholezard, a traditional Iranian dessert, and zerde, a traditional Turkish dessert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bastani</span> Persian ice cream

Bastani, locally known as bastani sonnati or bastani sonnati zaferani, is an Iranian ice cream made from milk, yolk, sugar, rose water, saffron, vanilla, and pistachios. It is known widely as Persian ice cream. Bastani often contains flakes of frozen clotted cream. Sometimes, salep is included as an ingredient.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Street food of Chennai</span> Food sold by street vendors in Chennai, India

Street food, as in other areas of India, are popular in Chennai, despite the common belief in India that street food is unhealthy. The idly sambhar is a popular dish, which is served as breakfast or dinner. Apart from regular South Indian street food, the city's streets are also filled with several North Indian street food outlets, most of them established by North Indian migrants themselves. Gujarati and Burmese are also available. Street food in Chennai is so popular that a game had developed based on the TV show The Amazing Race where contestants have to follow clues to street-food spots in the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kulfi (restaurant)</span> Restaurant in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Kulfi is a restaurant with two locations in Portland, Oregon.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Michael Krondl (2011). Sweet Invention: A History of Dessert. Chicago Review Press. p. 48. ISBN   978-1-55652-954-2.
  2. 1 2 3 Charmaine O'Brien (2003). Flavours of Delhi: A Food Lover's Guide. Penguin Books Limited. p. 71. ISBN   9789351182375.
  3. 1 2 Caroline Liddell, Robin Weir (15 July 1996), Frozen Desserts: The Definitive Guide to Making Ice Creams, Ices, Complete Kulfi Recipes, Gelati, and Other Frozen Delights, Macmillan, 1996, ISBN   978-0-312-14343-5, ... Kulfi is the traditional Indian ice cream and has a strongly characteristic cooked-milk flavor and dense icy texture. ... The basis of making kulfi is to reduce a large volume of milk down to a very small concentrated amount ...
  4. 1 2 Matthew Kenney (September 2009), Entertaining in the Raw, Gibbs Smith, 2009, ISBN   978-1-4236-0208-8, ... Kulfi is an Indian-style ice cream that is richer and creamier than regular ice cream, due to the lack of air that is whipped into traditional ice cream to make it lighter. The milk, traditionally from buffalo ...
  5. 1 2 "An Illustrated Tour of Ice Cream Styles Around the World".
  6. ↑ "Ice, Cream... and Chemistry – American Chemical Society".
  7. 1 2 Anil K. Gupta; Anit Kumar; Megh R. Goyal (2018). Novel Dairy Processing Technologies: Techniques, Management, and Energy Conservation. Apple Academic Press. p. 78. ISBN   9781351682046.
  8. ↑ "Kulfi Glossary".
  9. ↑ "Effect of Different Level of Ash Gourd Pulp for Manufacturing Dietetic Kulfi" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  10. ↑ "Mango Kulfi -The Ultimate frozen summer dessert!". 28 June 2021.
  11. ↑ Charmaine O'Brien (2003). Flavours of Delhi: A Food Lover's Guide. Penguin Books Limited. p. 72. ISBN   9789351182375.
  12. ↑ Corby Kummer (2007). 1001 Foods To Die For. p. 784.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.