Ms Freud and I were driving through town when I noticed a formerly closed restaurant had reopened with a new owner and new name, The Kabob. Hmmm, sounds Middle Eastern. I love their recipes. We decide to stop in. Turns out the owners are from Afghanistan, and everything on the menu is Afghani. Wow, a first. And, lemme tell you, it was absolutely delicious!!
Lemme tell you about the dessert. It’s called ‘firni’ … a custard … and it was out of this world! Served in a smallish ramekin, it also cost five bucks. Ten bucks for two people. Ouch. We get home, and I g**gle the recipe. It is sooooo easy to make …. 15 minutes (not counting the two hours to cool in the fridge).
The “secret” ingredient is cardamom.
I’ve heard of it … and, that’s about all. Never used it, ever. Wow, what a mistake that has been. I can’t describe the taste, except to say I just may have a new favorite spice.
Turns out that it’s one of most medically powerful spices in existence. See Mercola’s article here; http://foodfacts.mercola.com/cardamom.html
It’s also the third most expensive spice in the world (after saffron and vanilla). Cost me $11.25 for 1.75 ounces … but, a little goes a long way.
The recipe follows below. (Man, it is GOOOOD!!). I found the recipe from this website —> http://www.afghancultureunveiled.com/work/ —- an absolute treasure trove of Afghani recipes … which are really surprisingly delicious.
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INGREDIENTS
5 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ cup milk
…..
3 cups whole milk
½ cup heavy cream
…..
1 cup sugar
Pinch salt
…..
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
…..
Garnishments (optional) — almonds, pistachios, pomegranate, any fresh berries
DIRECTIONS
—–1) In a small bowl mix the cornstarch and milk to form a thin paste, stirring with a fork until smooth.
—–2) Pour the milk and the cream into a medium-size saucepan and cook over high heat until simmering but NOT yet boiling.
—–3) Add the sugar and salt and stir for about a minute until the sugar dissolves
—–4) Add the cornstarch mixture in a steady stream, stirring all the while.
—–5) Add the cardamom and coconut flakes ….. and stir continuously, about another 5 minutes at a low boil until the mixture thickens.
—–6) Pour the pudding into a shallow bowl. Optionally add whatever garnishments you like. Refrigerate until chilled through, at least 2 hours
Oh, Yeah, Baby!
Well, I couldn’t find it (firni) on the link. Anyway – 1 cup of sugar – why not mix some cardamom with the sugar add a liquid and all set for tooth decay and diabetes.
Don’t get your panties in a wad – just tell me my error.
Yoda
The link is under her recipes tab, and then under the sweets tab.
Here, … it’s the fourth row, first column — http://www.afghancultureunveiled.com/work/#/sweet/
When I saw the title, Cardamom, I thought the article was about sending a card to your mom on Mother’s Day. Heh.
Yoda
Yes, the one cup of sugar COULD be a problem. It’s a good question.
A lot of it depends on how much sugar one currently consumes. Read labels! Sugar is in virtually in everything . Do you drink coke?
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That’s 2.5 Tablespoons of sugar … per can. There are about 16 tablespoons in a cup. So, that cup of sugar in the firni is about equal to just one six-pack of coke. See? It’s all relative.
In my mama’s tradition, I cook/bake virtually everything from scratch. So, I pretty good idea how much sugar we consume. A four pound bag of sugar lasts me about two-three months. Also, I use raw sugar, not processed sugar, so that helps a bit also.
Lastly, sometimes ya just gotta say “Fuckit! I don’t give a shit!”
Stucky….thanx for the reply. I did see that when I first looked, but your ingredients were different so I thought it was another recipe that I couldn’t find.
Why has noone noticed the glaring error in this recipe. Where is the BACON???
Maybe try to cut down on the sugar with some substituted stevia?
Sugar adds volume and texture. Replacing all or part with stevia changes the whole recipe.
Same goes for using maple syrup. My guess is that the custard won’t “gel” into a custard … that it will stay too liquid.
Stucky, that soda comparison isnt even right. There isn’t any “sugar” in that soda, just high fructose corn syrup, which is far worse. Id much rather eat something with way too much raw sugar(thats how we cook too) than a bunch of HFCS.
And im glad you liked the afghan cooking. When I first got to bahrain, a long time ago, the guys that picked us up took us to get shwarmas, which seems like a hajji taco. It was the biggest shithole youve ever seen. When we got there, I thought this was some kind of joke. Under no circumstances am I going to eat ANYTHING that is cooked, prepared, etc in this place. Well, everyone else got food and sat down eating, so apparently it wasnt a joke being played on us new guys. I ate a couple of lamb shwarmas and they were fucking delicious, went back there every couple of weeks
Try xylitol, it’s sugar-like and won’t rot your teeth.
I have a pear butter recipe that uses cardamom… absolutely delicious.