Paan Kulfi

I wanted to do something different and special for Deepavali this year in terms of dessert. Given my thankfully diminishing sweet tooth, I usually stick to kheer and some sweets bought from the neighbourhood mithai shop - Milk cake etc. But having taken the plunge into desi mithai by making besan ke laddus with the kids for Dussehra, I had to up my game for Deepavali, which means adding a touch of madness - sometimes divine, sometimes just the Agra variety - to the recipe. That's when I hit upon Paan flavoured Kulfi.

Fessing up - had never made Kulfi before. And did not have the patience to spend hours slaving over milk and reducing it down, so I went with the tried and tested Tarla aunty shortcut method - her shortcuts never fail!! - and used a mix of condensed and evaporated milk to reduce my effort. Threw in a couple of meetha paans into the result before freezing, and voila, a new, improved, grown-up version of kulfi was served up to the applause of family at Deepavali lunch. But then, they'll applaud anything!

If you want to try at your own risk, here's how:
3/4th liter full cream milk
1/2 tin ( 200 gms) condensed milk)
1/4 cup evaporated milk

Mix all three and set to boil, then reduce to a simmer and let it simmer away on low flame, stirring occasionally, for about 1/2 hour, until it reduces by about a third.

Let cool, then whizz in the blender with a couple of meetha paans - or even plain paan will do if you're going for the betel leaf flavour as opposed to actual paan flavour.

Pour mix into a suitable container - i.e.flatbottomed rather than round-bottomed - I used a tupperware box - and freeze for 4-6 hours or overnight.

If you want to fancy up the serving, pose the prettily cut pieces of kulfi on some betel leaves, scatter a few rose petals etc etc...