Here’s your chance to savour the last few weeks of summer with this easy vegan Kulfi. Kulfi is an Indian and Pakistani summer treat that has been helping people get through the sultry days of the south Asian countries. It’s sweet, creamy, rich in flavor, and, of course, DELICIOUS! What more do you need?
Kulfi is commonly referred to as the Indian ice-cream. It is a traditional frozen dessert served in the south Asian region especially in India as a summer dish. You can often find these in many street shops or Indian restaurants with a variety of flavours to choose from, like Kesar (saffron), Pistachio, Mango, and the classic flavour Malai (cream) Kulfi.
The Kulfi, or ‘Qulfi’ in Persian, was a 16th-century recipe gifted from the Mughal Empire to the rest of the sub-continent and is now famously known as Kulfi. It was traditionally made with heavy cow’s milk, sugar, nuts, and cardamom, and was stored in metal molds or cones. These cones were then immersed in an insulated container of ice and salt, and then served fresh. But nowadays, you can find them in a variety of flavours ranging from Kesar (saffron), Pistachio, Mango, to even trendy ones like chocolate.
Kulfi is often called the healthier version of ice cream, but here’s your chance to make a better and even healthier version of Kulfi – vegan, of course. This Easy Vegan Kulfi is the perfect way to get those ice-cream cravings satiated without any guilt.
Kulfi holds a very special place in my heart. I come from a hot tropical country and summers get real sultry over there. After school, one could find many street vendors with their kulfi carts, selling chilled kulfi to the students for as cheap as it can get. In my opinion, that’s the best way to beat the heat and get some cool on.
Although I love the weather in France, I sometimes miss the weather back home and wished I could savor a kulfi or two. So, to bring back a little bit of home into my cooking I thought why not make some yummy, creamy, easy vegan Kulfi.
As mentioned before, kulfi is made with heavy milk, sugar, and flavorings. The idea is to evaporate the milk to make it into a thick, cream-like consistency before adding in the nuts and freezing it. The traditional way of making kulfi requires a lot of time to simmer the milk, and to reduce it until thickened. In our Easy Vegan Kulfi, we are aiming to save a lot of time and use plant-based ingredients that won’t change the traditional taste or flavor of the kulfi.
After bringing the coconut and soy milk to a boil, add the crushed cardamom to give it a spicy, and herbal flavor. Try and stick to the measurements, for now, once you get a hang of it, you can eyeball the ingredients.
Other spices you can add: Saffron
While adding the almonds, keep in mind how coarse you would like the powder to be. Some like their kulfis crunchy, so they prefer keeping bigger bits of crushed almonds. It is totally up to you.
Note: For nut allergies, you can skip out the nuts altogether. Make sure to add more fatty coconut milk in that case.
The next important step is to form the slurry with corn starch and soy milk. Alternatively, if you don’t have corn starch, you could also add arrowroot powder to thicken the mixture quickly. Here I have used corn starch although both work perfectly fine. Once the slurry is prepared, add it to the base mix and stir continuously till it thickens to a lovely cream-like consistency.
Now all you have to do is cool it in molds. It’s advised to keep the molds in the freezer for approximately 4-5 hours, depending on the cool setting on your refrigerator. If you are unsure, do a taste test on one of the molds and take a call.
And voilà! Your Easy Vegan Kulfi is now ready to be demolished.
Check out other desserts from my page:
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Spectacular ! I made these and everyone loved it. It doesn't feel like a load of sugar like regular ice creams and all the ingredients flavors come together nicely.
If you have the budget, I would recommend to try it with saffron tho.
That makes me so happy to know!!! Thank you so much!!!! Saffron is magic✨
These look so delicious! Looking forward to making these soon. It's still summer-y in a few parts of India (where i stay) so definitely trying these. Will let you know :)
Thank you so much Rachel!! Looking forward to seeing your recreation❤️
It turned out lovely. Also tried a sugar free version using sugar free tablets. My Nani said there was a lot of ice in it. Was it because of lack of sugar? Any ideas? Also I think I might try to make with dates instead of sugar next time, any ideas how I might need to tweak things?
Thank you so much for the recipe!!
Hi Shikhar! Thanks for the feedback! Yes, it's possible since the sugar and milk need to meld together and create a creamy texture. I'm sure dates will work better but make sure to use enough fatty coconut milk to make up for the extra added fiber to keep the creaminess. You can also use non-refined sugar if you prefer not to use white sugar :)
Thank you!! I'll let you know how the date version turns out when I try it.