Pistachio Kulfi ice cream

Kulfi can be called the king of 'Indian ice creams'. There are many variations like mango kulfi, pista kulfi, almond kulfi, semiya kulfi etc. In India , Kulfi ice creams are mostly made in molds resembling Popsicle and sold in a hand pulled truck. The kulfi makers use special equipments to make it from scratch (whole milk). But it is very difficult to try that procedure at home (for my skill level...hi..hi). So I made a kulfi using my simple recipe and still I got the perfect pista kulfi taste:)
I made this for '2011 Thanks giving day' and I was excited to see my friends loving it:)

Serve a cup of Pistachio kulfi ice cream after that special weekend lunch for your loved ones:)

Ice cream before freezing.

 Pistachio kulfi ice cream studded with a cherry .

To soak and grind:

Cashew nut - 10
pista (pistachio) - 10
cardamom seeds - 1.5 tsp
saffron - 3 strands

Other ingredients:

Pistachio nuts - 1 cup
Sweetened Condensed Milk - 14 oz can (400 gm)
fat free Whipped Topping 8 oz (225 gm) - 2 packs
green food color - 1 drop (optional)

Method:

Soak the above mentioned nuts overnight or for 8 hours and grind to a fine paste.
In a wok dry roast the pistachio nuts and chop it to small pieces. (Using a chopper for 1 pulse or very coarsely). Let it cool completely.
The whipped topping should be kept in refrigerator till we start using.
In a mixing bowl add the nuts paste, food color and Condensed milk . Mix well.
(Though the food color is optional, I got this color after adding a drop of green food color only. Till then it was pale beige in color).
Then blend in the coarsely chopped pista.
Now add the whipped topping and mix gently (too much mixing will make the ice cream hard).
Immediately transfer them to a freezer-safe lidded container.
Cover and freeze for 3-4 hours.

Creamy rich pista kulfi ice cream is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve as dessert.
Makes nearly 15 - 20 generous servings.
Before scooping, keep the ice cream in room temperature for 2 minutes to facilitate smooth handling.

Very simple version:

Also check out my short cut for kulfi flavored ice cream.

Alternate method:

(without whipped cream and condensed milk):
We can make this kulfi by altering my vanilla ice cream recipe too.

Desserts for Thanks giving

Before we enter into the next month, let me post the photos of the simple dessert table I kept for Thanks giving. It was not extremely formal but met my satisfaction to some level.

Here is how I planned the lunch....

*I started planning 5 days ahead and kept a check list as usual. It included some main points like preparing home made yogurt with whole milk, buying the ingredients, preparing desserts,grinding the masalas, preparing base masala, ghee making , marination time calculation.

*Buying some desserts instead of preparing is a good idea to reduce the stress. I bought an apple pie and some pomegranates to give it a real Thanksgiving look.

*On Monday I prepared the pistachio ice cream.

*I prepared a carrot cake and did icing to honor Jesus, saying 'Thank You'. I baked it by Tuesday and kept it refrigerated to get a even surface. Did the icing with store bought cream cheese frosting and home made colored icing, while the chicken was in the oven on Thursday morning.

I finished setting this dessert table, arranging all the dinnerware, serve ware on Wednesday, that made my job easy on Thanksgiving Thursday.

Keeping a side table solely for desserts and  dinnerware would make it easy.

*Keep all the coke / drinks in refrigerator for better taste, but leave a few in the table to give some idea to the guests.

Thanks giving cake.