This week in our Qatar Home Cooks series, we’re featuring two deliciously sweet recipes to tickle your taste buds! Meet Samira Khan and her kulfi recipe with a very special twist plus Shanon Iffat Alam and her recipe for a Middle Eastern classic that anyone can make at home – saffron milk cake.

Our cooking series features Qatar’s diverse and talented home chefs with a passion for food. If you’d like to be featured in our series, please share your food photo on Instagram and tag @ilqlive @mama_baba_ganoush plus the hashtag #qatarhomecooks.

Name: Samira Khan

• Country: India
• How long have you lived in Qatar: 6 years
• Occupation: Homemaker
• Social media: Instagram: @withsamiraa

1. Has Covid19 changed the way you cook at home? Yes, it totally has. The current pandemic situation has changed the way I cook and changed our lives to some extent.

Being a mother of a toddler and having her around all the time with limited screen time, no access to the outdoors and keeping her busy has become a task. So, I have encouraged her to become involved in the kitchen from sifting flour to making cookies or pasta/roti dough. I search for recipes that my daughter can be involved with.

2. What is the name of your recipe? Gulkand badam kulfi - a milk-based ice cream from the Indian subcontinent which most likely originated in the early 16th century during the Mughal Empire. I came up with this variation while searching for something in my refrigerator and came across ‘gulkand’ which is a sweet preserve (jam) of rose petals (primarily pink ones collected at their peak bloom) made in India and in some other Asian countries. ‘Gul’ means flower in both Persian and Urdu Languages, and ‘qand’ means sweet in Arabic.

Traditionally ‘kulfi’ is prepared by evaporating sweetened and flavoured milk via slow cooking, until it’s volume is reduced by half, thus thickening it, increasing its fat, protein, and lactose density. This semi-condensed mix is then frozen in tight sealed molds. However, I made a quick fix version with a little twist.

3. Why have you chosen this dish? Though ‘kulfi’ is a classic, my variation uses a new flavour and it turned out well. I have never seen or heard of this flavour before.

Samira’s Gulkand Badam Kulfi

Ingredients

• 200ml whipping cream
• 200ml evaporated milk
• 100ml condensed milk
• 1 ½ tbsp Gulkand
• 1 tbsp dried rose petals
• 2 tbsp rose syrup
• 12 almonds
• 8 pistachio
• 1 ½ slices bread (this will give that typical kulfi texture)

Note: Try sourcing some kulfi molds and ice cream sticks for the authentic look.

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients in a blender or immersion blender.
2. Pour in the molds and freeze for 7-8 hours or overnight for best results.
3. VOILA!! There you have it!!

Name: Shanon Iffat Alam

• Country: The United Kingdom and my nationality is Bangladeshi
• How long have you lived in Qatar? 7 years
• Occupation: Recently graduated from university
• Social media: @shanonscookingdiary
  

1. Has Covid19 changed the way you cook at home? It has created an opportunity for me to become a baker. With more time at home, I have experimented with different types of recipes. I have always been passionate about baking and cooking, but never had enough time.

2. What is your dish? Saffron milk cake – a Middle Eastern classic

3. Why have you chosen this dish? This is an easy and delicious recipe to make! A restaurant-quality dessert at home.

Shanon’s Saffron Milk Cake

Ingredients

Cake:

• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup sugar (preferably powdered by blending)
• 1/3 cup butter
• 2/3 cup flour
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of saffron
• ¾ cup warm milk
• 1tsp vanilla essence

Frosting:

• Whipping cream - 1 cup
• Icing sugar- 3/4 tablespoons accordingly

Milk syrup:

• 1 cup milk
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 2/3 can condensed milk
• Pinch of saffron

Method

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until the mixture becomes pale in colour. Add melted butter and beat for a couple of minutes.
3. Sift all the dry ingredients.
4. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients gently with a spatula/ spoon.
5. Add the vanilla essence and saffron soaked in warm milk and mix.
6. Pour into a tin and bake for 40 to 50 minutes.

Frosting:

1. Beat whipping cream with icing sugar until it forms stiff peaks.

Milk syrup:

1. In a jug, combine the three types of milk with saffron and keep in the refrigerator.
2. Once the cake is baked, pour over half of the milk syrup. Store in the refrigerator until chilled. Add a layer of whipping cream and serve with the rest of the saffron milk syrup.

What have you been cooking at home? Let us know in the comments section below!

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Kim Wyatt

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