Earl-Grey Tea Kesar-Elaichi Kulfi Pops!

"What?" you maybe asking yourself? "Earl-Grey Kesar-Elaichi Kulfi Pops?"

Yes! That's right! A little twist on the desi kulfi where we use Earl-Grey tea.  It really does taste yummy! So good, that I didn't even have a chance to take a photo, because they are that good!

I've been watching Foodnetwork TV's "The Next Food Network Star" (season 6) and have become a BIG fan of Aarti Sequeira. She has inspired so many people (just read her Facebook fan page) to cook, and I am one of them! In fact, Aarti commented on one of my posts I made on her page. And yes, I did take a screenshot, and that is what you see below!

So the original recipe for Earl-Grey Kulfi Pops is Aarti's. And you can find the original recipe here. What follows below is my recipe, with my own minor twists!

12oz can unsweetened evaporated milk
6 earl grey tea bags (or 6 tspns if it is loose)
14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup heavy/whipping cream
½ tspn ground cardamom (elaichi)
¼ cup whole unshelled unsalted pistachios (roast these a little, let them cool, then chop them up)
A pinch of saffron (kesar)
A few drops of rose essence

1. Add the earl grey tea to the evaporated milk and heat. Keep stirring occasionally. When you see little bubbles appear around the edges, switch off and take off the heat. Cover, and let it cool.
2. To the cooled mixture, add the sweetened condensed milk, and heavy whipping cream and give a good whisk! It will help build muscles!
3. Crush the cardamom and saffron up together.  Even if the cardamom is ground up, it will help grind the saffron.  I do this with my pestle and mortar. Add to the mixture.
4. Add the chopped pistachios and a few of drops of rose essence. Mix.
5. Pour into popsicle mounds (I use these, and so does Aarti) or Ice cube trays or a cake pan (and you'll need to slice like a cake when cool.)
6. Allow to freeze! The kulfi takes about 4-6 hours to freeze in the popsicle mounds. If you poured the mixture in a cake pan, it will take longer.
7. When you're ready to eat them, I just let them sit outside of the freezer for a couple of minutes and then the popsicle cover just slides off.

Enjoy!  Oh, and below is the post that Aarti made!

Unfortunately, I did not have any photos of the actual Kulfi out of the Popsicle mold, except when I took them out! So, enjoy! :)