Quick and Ultimate Mango Ice Cream

This is a forever favorite Mango Kulfi recipe of mine - but tweaked up a little bit.

I've been making this mango kulfi for many years now for our big parties. I make them and pour them into small individual cups and freeze them. Those little cups are perfect individual portions and my friends and guests always love it. Anyone who has not had these before ask me for the recipe - and the others know the recipe. I hear from them that they do make it often too!

This is usually not diet food - coz there's cream, condensed milk etc. But this time around, I tried to at least get down the fat content by using a couple of low fat or fat free ingredients. And how about when condensed milk is fat free. God bless thy soul who discovered this at the Nestle factory. Every pound that I don't put on my body is thankful to you. So, instead of very rich, this dish is medium rich in terms of calories. But, in terms of taste, it still reigns supreme. Trust me. This will always be a crowd pleaser.

I had invited one of the blog's long time readers Varsha home for dinner. She and her husband are recently married and celebrated their 1st anniversary a few days back. She lives in my neck of the woods. We've been chatting quite frequently and I had invited her to come over sometime. It took me many many weeks..maybe even months to finally call her - all weekends have been crazy busy. Sorry about that Varsha! It was very nice meeting the both of you finally! I asked Varsha what her favorite dishes were so that I can cook those for her - and she of course opted for some of our favorites too - Indian Chinese! So, my whole menu was Indian chinese menu. I do have some posts planned on a couple of dishes I made that day - you'll hopefully see it soon. And of course what a meal without a good dessert. This was the chosen one for the day. And everyone did love it!

Here's what we need - some graham crackers ( any variety is ok), some evaporated milk, mango pulp, condensed milk and whipping cream.

In a food processor, add about 8 -10 squares of graham crackers. To that add 2 tbsp of brown sugar.

Now, add 1 1/2 tbsp of melted butter on top of the crackers and brown sugar.

Give it all a good whirrrr until the crackers crumble completely.

Like this.

I used a loaf pan here. You can use any shaped pan. If you have a bigger group you are making this for, you can double the quantities and use a round cake pan too. I still had a whole lot leftover with these measurements after I filled a loaf pan. This might be enough for almost 2 loaf pans I guess.

Use aluminum foil and line the loaf pan all over and going over the edges to the outsides. Flatten it out so that there are no air pockets at the bottom or sides.

Now, fill the bottom with the graham cracker crust and press down firmly but gently. You can have some up the sides as well.

Once that is ready, cut a fresh mango into small pieces and set aside.

Now, let's get on to the main part - the ice cream. You can make this with a hand held blender too. Pour all of the whipping cream in the mixer bowl.

Whip at medium speeds for a few mins or until you start seeing soft peaks form.

That is a good indicator to stop. The cream is whipped good and you can see that its holding its ground. Atta boy!

Now, add the evaporated milk into the cream and keep beating in low speeds.

Then, add the whole can of condensed milk to the mix.

And then finally, add the mango pulp to the mix and mix well until the mango has combined well and you start seeing a beautiful yellow.

Can you see the yellow showing up now?

Now, gently pour this over the crust base in the loaf pan. Pour halfway and not completely yet. You'll see why..

When that is half poured, add the fresh cut mango pieces in here. You can also add these to the liquid ice cream before pouring. Can you see that I forgot that and I'm trying to make up a story that this is the way to do it? Either way - the mango needs to be in there.

Then, pour the rest of the liquid ice cream. You are done.

Now, freeze this for a few hours until the ice cream sets. Usually about 4-5 hrs is enough for this to set.

I'm sorry I forgot to get pictures of taking it out of the freezer and then inverting it on to a plate. I was busy chatting with my guests - forgot that!

Anyways, once you take it out of the freezer, gently wiggle the foil and you will be able to lift it out easy from the pan. Once out, you can just flip it out on a plate and then gently peel out the foil.

Decorate on top with some more fresh mango slices and some caramelized pistachios - they add a nice bite and add contrast to the softness of the mango.

The graham cracker crust adds wonderful texture to the smoothness of the ice cream. Similar to a cheesecake. But, only upside down!

I'm sorry again - did not click too many pictures - we all just wanted to eat this thing!

There's a slice of the ice cream. Can you see the mango chunks in the middle?

Oh yeah.. I know you love it too..

Enjoy. Peace Out!