Summer brings sizzling temperatures and sweet mangoes. And it is only natural to use this king of fruits to beat the heat, like we will do today with a quick and easy recipe of mango kulfi.

Now the traditional kulfi recipe calls for hours of cooking the milk on slow heat to thicken it, but who wants to spend too much time in the kitchen in this heat? So we will use a shortcut and still come up with an authentic taste that will appeal to any kulfi or mango lover. The kulfi flavour also comes from cardamoms and for that we will be using cardamom powder.

Ingredients

• 1 packet or cup thick cream

• 1 can condensed milk

• 1 1/2 cups mango pulp

• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder

• Chopped almonds for garnishing

Method

Put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor, and blend until smooth. Viola! The kulfi is ready!

Pour into kulfi or popsicle moulds and freeze overnight for best results. Serve with sliced almonds, pistachios or just plain.

Since I did not have kulfi moulds, I got creative and used small-sized paper cups and inserted an ice lolly stick into it and kept it in the freezer. Ideally an ice cream or kulfi should be frozen in an airtight container to avoid the formation of ice crystals.

Frankly, this kulfi did have a touch of ice on the top, exposed surface, but it didn’t make any difference to the taste. It was the simplest, yet most creamy and luscious mango kulfi I have come across.

You can also just freeze it in a plastic box with a cover if you do not have individual moulds and cut out pieces to serve. Frankly, when a chilled desert is served in this heat, everyone is too busy trying to gulp it down before it melts that they hardly bother with the look and presentation.

Published in Dawn, Young World, June 22nd, 2019