
Quick malai kulfi with tahini caramel (sugar free)
A quick cheat’s way of enjoying malai kulfi with the sweetness only from the goodness of dates and a 3 minutes tahini caramel. Completely refined sugar free!
Kulfi is a classic Indian no churn ice-cream that is a rich and decadent treat. Malai kulfi is a base of any kulfi which is prepared by slowly simmering the full fat milk for hours until the milk turns into a thick consistency and changes its colour from a creamy white to a light brown. It is totally worth the effort that goes into it as no thickening agents are used and it tastes absolutely heavenly.
However, sometimes cheat’s way is the best way to get around a recipe if you want something quick that tastes equally delicious. In my recipe, I am going to show you two ways to do the cheat’s malai kulfi. One is with the evaporated milk which is easily available here in Singapore and one with the milk powder for those readers of mine who find it difficult to procure the same.
Milk powder is a versatile ingredient to have it in the pantry. You can make a quick 5 minute rabdi with and if you have any leftover, you can make my eggless mava cake with it.
What is evaporated milk? As the name suggests, it’s a thick, concentrated form of milk with a little water content. It is thick, creamy and has a slight mild caramel flavour that develops as the milk is boiled for a long duration before it is canned. However, it is not the same as condensed milk. Condensed milk is thicker than evaporated milk and is sweet as sugar is added to the concentrated milk before canning it.
Dates is a perfect natural option to make something sweet without addition of any sugar, honey or jaggery. In this recipe of malai kulfi to keep it sugarless, I have used dates two ways; one in the form of dates paste (using red dates) and the other in the form of small chunk of dry dates (kharek). Small pieces of dry dates give a textural bite to the creamy kulfi but if you rather not, it is totally avoidable.
Tahini caramel is also an added option here. I love to build textures and contrasting flavours and wanted something to go over my kulfi – just like popping candy on my sugar free masala grapes popsicles. And tahini caramel fitted as dates and tahini are a match made in heaven! 4 ingredients and 3 minutes with no cooking involved!! Can anything be easier than that?? It surely goes as the QUICKEST recipe on my blog.

And don’t stop there, what I have given you here is a base of a kulfi. Add dry figs, apricot or even saffron to make it exotic. It’s like a blank canvas, fill with any ‘ingredients’ as you like or go the classic way and enjoy it as is.
If you liked this recipe, you may like some of these as well:
Recipe Card
Quick malai kulfi with tahini caramel (sugar free)
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AUTHOR
Hema B Kathrani
CUISINE
Indian
PREP TIME
20 minutes
COOK TIME
10 minutes + overnight chilling
SERVINGS
makes 6 kulfi
Author: Hema B Kathrani | Cuisine: Indian | Category: All things Sweet
Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 10 minutes + overnight chilling | Servings: makes 6 kulfi
A quick cheat’s way of enjoying malai kulfi with the sweetness only from the goodness of dates and a 3 minutes tahini caramel. Completely refined sugar free!
Ingredients
- Option A: with evaporated milk
- 1 ½ cans of evaporated milk
- 15 red dates
- ¾ cup water
- 1 tbsp corn flour
- ½ cup dry dates finely chopped (optional)
- Option B: without evaporated milk
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cup milk powder
- 1 cup + 1tbsp water
- 15 red dates
- ¾ cup water
- ½ cup dry dates finely chopped (optional)
- Tahini caramel: (optional)
- 4 tbsp tahini paste
- 2 tbsp honey
- A pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp water * read notes
Method
- Option A: with evaporated milk
- Make the milk mix:
- In a pan, whisk evaporated milk and corn flour together.
- Bring it to a boil. Do stir every few minutes to ensure that corn flour does not sink at the bottom.
- Turn off the flame once it comes to a boil and keep it aside to cool.
- Stir every few minutes so that the skin does not develop over the milk mix. Alternatively, you can put a cling wrap directly over the milk mix which will help it to cool down without forming a skin.
- Make the date paste:
- Clean the dates and remove the seeds.
- In a pan, combine dates with ¾ cup water
- Bring it to a boil.
- Turn off the flame and cover it to cool down.
- Once completely cooled, blend it with the water in a paste.
- Keep it aside.
- Make the kulfi mix:
- Add the dates paste to the completely cooled milk mix and combine well.
- Combine chopped dry dates pieces (if using) and mix well.
- Pour the mix in the kulfi mould filling it ¾ way.
- Put the lid on and place the moulds in the freezer for 3 hours.
- Remove the lids and place the stick in the middle and re freeze the kulfi overnight.
- Skip last two steps if you are using a popsicle mould. Fill the moulds ¾ way, put the lid on and freeze it overnight.
- Make the milk mix:
- Option B: without evaporated milk
- Make the date paste:
- Clean the dates and remove the seeds.
- In a pan, combine dates with ¾ cup water
- Bring it to a boil.
- Turn off the flame and cover it to cool down.
- Once completely cooled, blend it with the water in a paste.
- Keep it aside.
- Make the kulfi mix:
- Combine water, milk powder and butter in a pan and whisk well.
- Bring it to a simmer over a low flame till the butter melts and the mix becomes homogeneous.
- Keep it aside to cool.
- Stir every few minutes so that the skin does not develop over the milk mix. Alternatively, you can put a cling wrap directly over the milk mix which will help it to cool down without forming a skin.
- Add the dates paste to the completely cooled milk mix and combine well.
- Combine chopped dry dates pieces and mix well.
- Pour the mix in the kulfi mould filling it ¾ way.
- Put the lid on and place the moulds in the freezer for 3 hours.
- Remove the lids and place the stick in the middle and re freeze the kulfi overnight.
- Skip last two steps if you are using a popsicle mould. Fill the moulds ¾ way, put the lid on and freeze it overnight.
- Make the date paste:
- Tahini caramel:
- In a pan, combine smooth tahini paste, honey and salt. Mix well.
- Add 1 tbsp of warm water to the mix and bring it to the desired consistency.
- Keep it aside.
- To serve:
- Remove the moulds from the freezer and rub your hands around the mould. The heat of your hands will release the kulfi.
- Drizzle tahini caramel over the kulfi and enjoy immediately.
Notes
- You can make the dates syrup in advance. It freezes well too. It is a great substitute to use in milk shakes or even in ice-creams as a healthy substitute to sugar.
- I recommend hydrating the dry dates (kharek) before putting them to use. Soak the dry dates in a warm water for 5 minutes, drain and put it to use.
- Tahini caramel is an optional drizzle. The kulfi will taste wonderful and sweet even without it. I have added it in the recipe to give another layer of texture and flavour.
- You may need to adjust the quantity of the water if the tahini paste is lumpy. For this recipe, the best results are achieved with a smooth tahini paste.
- If you don’t have a kulfi mould, you can use a disposable plastic cup as well. Pour the mix in 6-7 cups filling it halfway and insert a stick once it is half frozen.
- I use US cup measurement which is 1 cup = 235 ml
- You can also use this kulfi as a base mix. Add dry figs, apricot or even saffron to make it exotic and enjoy!
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2 thoughts on “Quick malai kulfi with tahini caramel (sugar free)”
The kulfi turned out to be yummy and flavourful. The best part was it took under 30 minutes for preparation and used all the easily available ingredients at home. I recommend others to definitely try this. Me and my husband loved it and took us back to our childhood. Thank you for the amazing recipe Hema, keep many more coming…
Thank you so much for your feedback Chavi. It is wonderful to know that the recipe worked out so well for you 🙂