Sunday, June 22, 2008

Rosewater Kulfi with Cherry Juice Steeped Noodles

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The sippy cup has often left me in wonder. I am not quite sure when they arrived on the parenting scene. Suffice it to say, when my bottle habit (the childhood kind) was broken, through garden-variety parental lies and deceit, I drank from cup or more accurately dribbled liquids. I now know that strange thing of parenthood, when your child experiences something you don't know and can't understand.

Belle loves her sippy. After a great game of chasing the dog (great for half of the players), she grabs her sippy off the table and takes deep, purposeful chugs. The sippy seems to satiate her physically and emotionally. But, recently she had a sick throat and couldn't swallow from a sippy. I tried to get her to drink milk from a cup. But, she kept pointing to her sippy. I couldn't figure out how to comfort her; to explain to her that she would be able to use her sippy again soon.

So, I thought ice cream would be comforting. Women with sick babies have no time to churn; and I am not that lady with the drum from the ice cream maker in the freezer. So, I decided to go the easy way and make kulfi, unchurned Indian ice cream. In other words, there is no real work. This is made with equal parts of condensed milk and almond milk, 2 cardamom pods, a sprinkle of rose water, and some saffron if you choose. Mix everything and freeze.

I placed these little dollops of sweetness (of course I made them mini), atop rose water and cherry juice steeped noodles. This sounds fancy but is not. Add pre-cooked rice noodles or uncooked cellophane noodles to very warm but not boiling flavoring liquid (jasmine tea, strongly flavored juice) and let stand at least 15 minutes. Eh, voila, your noodles should turn a pale color. Grape juice and pomegranate juice work best to color.

As there are noodles involved, I thought I would send this off to Pasta Presto hosted Hillary of Chew on That and started by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast.

Saffron Pista Kulfi

11 comments:

Cynthia said...

This is so delightfully playful.

Ruth Daniels said...

What a fabulous idea. Cherry juice steeped noodles. How exactly do you do that?

I do hope the little munchkin's throat is better.

And thanks for sharing this dish with Presto Pasta Nights.

OhioMom said...

I won't even get started on 'sip cups' ... lol.

This looks delish, ice cream as a medical treatment works for me :)

Nancy Heller said...

Tell us more about cherry flavored noodles! What kind of noodles? What is the cherry flavor? And how do you put them together?

The dessert looks positively yummy!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for reminding me of kulfi! I have been arguing back and forth with myself about buying an icecream churn. Good Sarah says, "No, we are fat people, and we don't need one." Bad Sarah says, "But it's icecream, for the love of God."

Kulfi is such a great compromise. Yummy without the investment in equipment that will obligate me to make a new batch every time the old runs out.

Anonymous said...

Loving all of that pastel prettiness. Please do tell about the noodles.

maybelles mom said...

First, thanks for the comments.
I just reread my post and realized I up and stopped at the food part. Ah, well... the cherry steeped noodles are really not fancy at all. Heat up the juice or a combination of juice and tea (say jasmine tea and tangerine juice) to very hot but no boiling. Put in precooked rice noodles or uncooked cellophane noodles, and steep for a while. (at least 15 minutes). And, voila you have faintly flavored, colored noodles.

The CFT said...

Now I know what to attempt when the niece visits.

Swati said...

This is similar ti Falooda as we call it in North India...
Its a delicious dessert and I love the way you have played around with the flavors!!

maybelles mom said...

CFT: warning, this is not in anyway, sugar-free; so practice serious portion control.

Swati: thanks, falooda is exactly what I was going for. I didn't call it falooda because it was a little different.

Lore said...

What a brilliant idea!!! I just love the look of these noodles.