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Necessity is the mother of invention.

This hasn’t made more sense to me than now, the lockdown phase.  Lest you think it’s about inventing the light bulb, no it’s far from it.  But yes, every little spark of an idea” brings light” to an otherwise helpless situation.

The April heat has been hotter, well so it seems year in and out.  It always feels worse than the previous year but heck, I can’t vouch for it as I didn’t get down to measuring the degree of heat last year.  So a comparison of what appears like a heatwave this year isn’t possible.  Not that it matters. 

When you’re in the kitchen, it feels like an oven.  Just like my Bajaj OTG, which is so strong an oven that it necessitates keeping my bakes for shorter than the prescribed time limit. No, it’s not a promo for Bajaj, but let me admit that Bajaj products dominate my kitchen.  

How to beat the heat with something.  Couldn’t we just fix an air-conditioner in the kitchen I wonder?  Well, fact is fact.  There is no running away from reality – that there is no cooling device in the kitchen and there cannot be.  Except perhaps to stick your head into the freezer for a minute – if that is an option.  Worse, you return dismally from the provisions stores without laying your hands on that oh so elusive ice-cream.  You scratch your damp hair with balmy hands.  Where oh where can I catch hold of some cool summer recipes and how to beat the heat with these recipes?

Lemons

That’s when you think about 2 cool recipes to combat the summer heat and think of lemons and lemonade.  Darn, there was no lemonade in the fridge, nor my favourite cooler – lemon barley syrup.  The provision stores had run out of lemonade fizzes and lemon-barley syrups.  Vexed, but not for long as it occurred to me, why not think of some cool summer recipes and “invent” some lemon barley at home! 

Barley grains

Fortunately, I’d had a small packet of barley grains lying in my kitchen drawer.  It almost got discarded a month ago as I’d thought I’d find little use for it.  As it’s said, nothing is too little to make a difference.  For that matter, it’s just a pinch of salt that one adds to a pound of food but it’s that small pinch that makes all the difference.   If that serves my point, well am glad.

Before I meander to another area, allow me to come to the point soon.  Yes, I did churn out a lemon barley syrup at home.  Among one of the cool summer recipes to combat the April heat.  And here is its recipe:

Lemon-Barley Syrup Concentrate Recipe:

Lemon Barley Chilled Drink

Ingredients of Lemon Barley Concentrate:

8-10 tablespoons – barley powder (flexibility in quantity is fine)
3 cups – grain sugar
1 cup – lemon juice (fresh, use less or more depending on the level of sour)
3-4 cups – water

Method for Lemon Barley Concentrate:

1. If you don’t have barley powder, grind whole barley to a fine powder.  Or, use the whole grains.
2. Boil the barley powder with water, pouring the water in stages, till there are no lumps.
3. Add sugar when the barley is well cooked, and give it a stir or two.
4. Turn off the heat, set aside and let cool completely.
4. Add the juice of lemons and stir calmly.
5. Strain to remove the lime pulp, barley residue and other impurities if any.
6. Store in a clean glass jar/bottle and refrigerate for a few weeks.  Note that this concentrate doesn’t have preservatives, so I recommend using it up sooner than later.
7. Pour a few spoons of concentrate into a glass, drop in four ice cubes and chilled water to enjoy the syrup.  Add lime rings as a garnish, if you may.  Make the experience fun by freezing lemon peels or orange segments or carrot circles in the ice tray before using them in the drink.

I couldn’t wait to sip and taste my lemon-barley squash, my very own homemade one!  Necessity sure caused me to experiment making this syrup on my own.  Else how to beat the heat with nothing chill to take the edge of the temperature. That the lemon barley syrup was natural and refreshingly original made it all the cooler.   When ice cubes clink in a glass and chilled water rushes to kiss the barley juice it appears like a glacial explosion.

I am sure you’re aware that there are other ways to beat the summer heat.  In the form of ice-creams, fruit-sticks, kulfis and whatever fills that category of chilled goodness.  But hell, there were no kulfis or ice-creams in stock, and that’s forgivable for just a day or two.  Waiting indefinitely isn’t one of my virtues, and so I went ahead and made the kulfi myself!  There are a variety of ice-cream recipes, and kulfi recipes too but this version of homemade kulfi is one is what I settled for.  I had one unsuccessful attempt before I managed to get the perfect one going.  As with most things, homemade is preferred over readymade, and so here’s my Malai Homemade Kulfi recipe.

Malai Pista Homemade Kulfi Recipe:

Malai kulfi

Ingredients for Homemade Kulfi:

500 ml – creamy milk (from the dudhwala dairy recommended)
½ tin – condensed milk (the Nestle brand is my preferred choice)
25 grams – fresh cream (an Amul brand went into this)
50 grams – mawa (from the dudhwala dairy recommended)
1.5 teaspoons – cornflour (dissolved in a few spoons milk)
Four tablespoons – pistachio shavings (2 tbsps for cooking, 2 tbsps for garnishing)
A pinch of cardamom powder

Method for Homemade Kulfi:

1.  Dissolve the cornflour in a little water and keep aside for use towards the end.
2.  Boil the milk in a sensibly heavy pan, and when it reaches boiling point dip the heat and let simmer till the milk is half its original quantity.
3. Add the sweetened condensed milk, mawa and fresh cream.  Stir in well for a few minutes.
4. Add the cornflour paste and stir till the mixture is thickened like the consistency of mayonnaise.
5. Set aside and cool completely.
6. Add the cardamom powder and pista slivers and blend once, till smooth.
7. Pour the blend into a baking tray or small conical aluminium/ steel moulds.  Seal the moulds with a sheet of polybag (cut just enough to cover the mouth of the moulds). Use rubber bands to hold it in place.  It’s incredible how handy I find rubber bands, so much so that I could dedicate an entire essay on the subject.
8. Freeze for 10-12 hours.
9. To scoop the homemade kulfi from the moulds, put them under running water (the solid side of the moulds, not the contents of course).  Run the tail end of the spoon over the edge, to loosen it a tad. Then overturn the mould over a flat dish or a clean cutting board.  Then slice the kulfi in 1-centimetre portions to serve.  

Thoughts & Tips

As far as the conical moulds go, pierce a flat wooden stick into the centre of the kulfi mixture and pry it out adroitly.  Even if you cannot, the contents would taste heavenly any which way.

There is one thing that may strike you as different when eating your homemade kulfi – that it’s not as hard as the commercially produced ones.   This one won’t be, as it contains pure, creamy milk and great quality condensed milk. You’ll be licking your fingers when the gooey milky sauce slides down your fingers.  No wonder then, the term” finger-licking” good.

The kulfi isn’t technically an ice-cream but it sure has a lot of cream, and is iced in the way ice-creams are.  While there are a variety of ice-cream recipes, the field narrows down to kulfi recipes, especially homemade kulfi.

The only concern I’ve faced in inventing new ways to cope with situations of insufficiency is the shortage of storage space.  My refrigerator, as my kitchen visitors describe it, is like a farmer’s fridge with enough space to hold ten kulfis.  Nevertheless, its freezer space cannot possibly hold each and everything dealt out by my kitchen factory day after experimental day.

Perhaps there could be a solution for that as well?  Talking about storage, the human brain is infinite and is known to store the entire internet.  Now, how to make it tangible in physical terms is an area with scope for experimentation and improvement.

For now, homemade is a preferred alternative; nay, it’s the only alternative. We’re staying home because that’s the best thing to do right now.  Besides, we could learn more from a crisis than we would in comfort.  And yes, there are more comfort foods now in the form of cool summer recipes, more than those available in comfortable times.  What better a time to put to use these cool recipes to combat the summer heat!