A creamy frozen delight similar to ice cream mixed with fresh citrus in a syrup scented with a dash of ginger and a splash of rose water. It's a delectable and refreshing fusion dessert.
This post is a tribute to one of my favorite Indian Chefs and cookbook author Floyd Cardoz. I was absolutely floored shocked when I heard of his passing a few weeks ago due to Covid-19. He was a prominent figure in bringing Indian flavors to the fine-dining scene in the United States, with his restaurant ‘Tabla’ in New York City. He was an inspiration to me as I watched his work online and followed his journey at restaurants like North End Grill, Paowalla and more recently the Bombay Canteen and O’Pedro in Mumbai, India and even cheered him on as he won “Top Chef Masters” in 2011.
His work definitely impacted my own culinary journey, so much so that I even so happened to have featured one of his recipes at an Indian Pop-up dinner I hosted here a few months ago in my hometown of Spokane, Washington. I didn’t intend on posting this recipe initially as it’s adapted from his ‘Vanilla-bean Kulfi with Citrus Fruit in Rose Water Syrup’ recipe the cookbook “Flavorwalla“- Pg-158. However, I find myself wanting to pay homage to his work and it’s influence on me.
I tweaked his recipe slightly adding Cardamom to flavor the kulfi and adjusting the sweetness to my own palate. I also wanted more texture to the dish and so added, chopped roasted pistachios and dried rose petals as a garnish.
Here’s how you can make this delicious refreshing dessert:
Vanilla- Cardamom Kulfi with Citrus Rose Syrup
A creamy frozen treat similar to ice-cream paired with a winter citrus syrup with a hint of ginger & a splash of rose water. It's a refreshing east-meets-west fusion dessert.

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1.5 tsp cardamom pods seeded and powdered
1`/3 cup sugar
pinch salt
For the Citrus Fruit
2-4 Citrus fruits (like navel oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, blood oranges etc.)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1 inch ginger sliced
1/2 tsp rose water
Garnish
roasted pistachios chopped
dried rose petals
Instructions
Add the milk, heavy cream & cardamom powder in a wide heavy-bottom sauce pan.
Bring to a simmer while stirring often until the liquid has reduced to half it's original volume. This takes about 20-30 minutes.
Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Then stir in the vanilla and salt and turn off the heat.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl and set in a larger bowl with ice-water to cool the mixture down, stirring occasionally until it's at room temperature.
Pour the mixture into six 41/2 ounce molds (I used dixie cups) and freeze them until solid (minimum 24 hours).
For the citrus fruit in syrup. Add the sugar and water in a sauce pan along with the sliced ginger until the sugar has dissolved and thickened slightly.
Take the pan off the heat and let it cool to room temp. Take out the ginger or strain the syrup
Cut the citrus fruit into segments or suprêmes, squeeze the membranes to get all the juices to set aside.
Add 1/2 tsp rose water to the room temp syrup and pour the syrup over the citrus fruit segments and juices
Let it steep for at least an hour or in the fridge for longer.
To serve; simply spoon some of the citrus fruit and syrup on the bottom of a plate/bowl and unmold the kulfi (just tear the paper cups off) onto the plate/bowl.
Top with chopped pistachios and dried rose petals.