(Serves 8)

30 g fresh basil
2 large cans evaporated milk (approx. 400 ml each)
1 large can sweetened condensed milk (approx. 400 ml)

Tear up the basil and put in a saucepan with the contents of one of the cans of evaporated milk. Bring to the boil and leave to infuse for an hour or two.

Whizz the mixture with a stick blender and rub through a sieve into a wide jug. Add the contents of the remaining cans and whisk well to combine the very different textures.

Pour the mixture either into eight moulds or into a shallow, rectangular container, so that you will get something about four centimetres deep, and will be able to cut into eight portions.

Freeze for several hours, until thick but not hard. Break up the mixture and put it in the food processor for a minute or so, processing until smooth, then refreeze until ready to use. Turn out, or cut up, and decorate each portion with peeled, chopped pistachios.

Cook’s note:
If you have an ice cream maker you can, of course, use that, but it will give you a slightly more aerated ice cream, whereas kulfi is generally rather dense and firm.

To make mango kulfi, omit the basil infusion and simply blend one or two peeled, diced ripe mangoes with the evaporated and condensed milk in the quantities given above, together with a squeeze of lime or lemon juice to sharpen it, or some rosewater to perfume the ice.