Kesar Badam Malai Kulfi

Soak saffron (kesar) in 1 teaspoon warm milk and keep aside.

Blanch (boil for few minutes and transfer in cold water) almonds and cashews. Remove the peel of almonds by gently pressing it between thumb and index finger.

Now grind almonds and cashews with 3 to 4 tablepoons milk to form a coarse paste and keep aside. I added cashews for that extra creaminess , you can add only almonds. This dry fruit paste gives that coarse and nutty texture so characteristic of a kulfi.

Take a thick bottomed pan, heat 2 cups of milk. Add soaked saffron strands.

Take out 2 to 3 tablespoons of warm milk from the pan and mix it with milk powder to make a uniform paste. Add this paste to the hot milk and stir well. Let the milk simmer for few minutes so that the milk powder’s smell dissapears.

To the milk, now add fresh cream and continue simmering. Add condensed milk and give a thorough mix.

Mix in the dry fruits milk paste and continue stirring, add a small pinch of nutmeg powder.

Let the entire mixture boil for few minutes, but make sure you stir it intermittently, so that it doesn’t burn at the bottom.

Cool the mixture, and transfer it to an airtight container. Cover the surface of the container with 2 to 3 layers of cling film, with the film completely in contact with the kulfi mixture.

Freeze this for 6-8 hours, preferably overnight when the fridge is least likely to be disturbed. You can also use a hand mixer/ whisk  to blend the mixture once it is half set to break the ice crystals. I skipped this step and still got a creamy kulfi. After blending you can transfer them to kulfi moulds and freeze.

Garnish with more dry fruits and enjoy your kulfi.