My Obsession with Kulfi.

Does anyone know what a kulfi is? Is it commonly found in Indian restaurants in Malaysia? Please enlighten me because I can’t believe this dessert has eluded my insulated ass for the past 26 years -_-

My first taste of kulfi was in India, specifically Golconda Fort. After a longass hike up and down the fort, I stopped for some rehydration at an ice cream cart. I’m so, so, so, so glad I chose kulfi, something I’ve never heard or tried before. The one I had was made by Scoops, which makes vegan ice cream :D

# – At the bottom of Golconda Fort enjoying a kulfi stick. Hmmm hmmm!

Kulfi is possibly the best ice cream-like dessert I’ve ever tasted. Traditionally flavoured with spices and nuts, it is impossibly rich, creamy and dense. It tasted way more premium than any premium ice cream I’ve had before! In fact, between kulfi and premium ice cream, I would choose the former in a heartbeat.

# – A half-eaten kulfi stick. Took me a while to tear my mouth away so I could take a picture!

# – Posers.

We were at Paradise Food Court for apparently the best briyani rice in Hyderabad (will blog about this later) and to finish off our meals, ST intelligently ordered kulfi matka (basically kulfi in a claypot) while my fickle ass ordered Khubani Ka Meetha. Cause it sounded exotic.

# – ST’s super delicious kulfi that was topped off with crushed almond.

Well, Khubani Ka Meetha is basically stewed apricots. Unbelievably sweet, cloying and generally did not rock my socks.

# – Force feeding myself with Khubani Ka Meetha due to ST’s anal retentiveness about wasting food :(

Thank heaven, the very next day I got to eat some kulfi to erase my memory of the words “stewed apricots” at Chatt’s wedding. Chatt’s caterer had brought dozens & dozens of high quality kulfis shaped in cylinders, of which they cut into wedges and served to guests. I had about 9 cups which probably altogether was about as fattening as 6 servings of chicken spicy mcdeluxe. Absolutely not regrets.

# – The kulfi wedges from Chatt’s wedding. This picture is making me restless because I NEED KULFI!

At the wedding, I started asking everyone at our table whether it’s possible to make kulfi at home. To my delight, it is apparently super easy! You don’t even need an ice cream maker! Just a freezer, milk, sugar and flavourings. I am seething with excitement about making my 1st batch of kulfi!!!!

We also had kulfi again on our last day in Hyderabad at Bikanervala, a sweet shop cum restaurant (will blog about this later too).

# – Little pots of creamy goodness.

Honestly, this was not the best kulfi I had because it was a little too soft for my taste. But the flavours were beautiful so I whacked it all anyway :D

# – Kulfi from Bikanervala.

And now, it’s time to make up for my 26 kulfi-less years.

Henna Tattoo in Hyderabad.

It was our last day in Hyderabad. We were at City Centre Mall to check out an Indian restaurant recommended by a local. City Center Mall is supposedly quite a happening shopping complex located in Banjara Hill, a more upmarket area of Hyderabad.

We took an auto rickshaw (or auto, as it’s more commonly known there) from our hotel, Gunrock Manor in Secunderabad and it costed us about 130 rupees (RM9). We really didn’t know how far City Centre Mall was from Secunderabad so we decided to pay what we were comfortable with, ripped off or not. Turned out it was quite a distance.

Anyway, Sahib Sindh Sultan, the Indian Restaurant we wanted to check out, was closed -__-

It wouldn’t open for another 3 hours so we decided to explore the busy streets and find other meal alternatives. As I was exiting the shopping complex, I noticed a couple of sitting stools just outside of the main entrance with a few young Indian boys hanging around. There was a huge catalogue of henna tattoo designs.

And then it hit me. How could I leave India without getting a henna tattoo? So I sat down, placed my hand on one of the boys’ lap and armed with a mini piping bag, he proceeded to tattoo me.

# – It started out small.

# – And he gradually filled in the design with more patterns.

# – More and more.

# – Almost done….

# – Done! Forgive my inept expression in this picture please, was a little too happy :P

# – The finished result. Very intricate design! I was so impressed that he managed to come up with this in less than 10 minutes.

I had to walk around with the moist henna paste on my hand for two hours to allow it to dry.

# – After 2 hours, you can see that the paste had hardened. Then it’s very easy to peel the paste off and wash my hand.

# – The final result.

Best 100 rupees I spent there.

Back in KL!

I’m home! I had 6 amazing days in Hyderabad, India. A lot of people asked me on Twitter, why Hyderabad? Actually, we’re mainly there to attend the wedding of Chatts, ST‘s good friend cum ex-colleague.

We got the invitation from Chatts a couple of months ago but we were not sure whether it’s a good time to leave the country as we anticipated moving house around the same time. In the end, we asked ourselves…how often do you get to attend a good friend’s wedding in India? The answer was pretty clear. Also, we took it as our 6th anniversary honeymoon ;)

Before we left though, we bought some multi-coloured blackboard chalks and headed to our new place to……. urmm vandalise the walls :P

# – Cocks and balls on the walls.

Yeap, poor contractor. He probably wished he had never met us. The chalks were used to circle out bits of the walls that we wanted him to improve or fix. They were issues like small holes, paint splat, leftover bristle from the paint brushes and many more. On the first day we reached Hyderabad, I got a call from him and he revealed he’s bought brand new buckets of paints to redo all the walls….

I feel really bad for him but at the same time, admire his patience and willingness to do the best for his customers.

Anyway, the first Hyderabadi thing I got acquainted with was the road traffic. I’ll blog about it more extensively in my later posts but let me give you an idea…

People there must use side mirrors and rear mirrors to look at their own reflections while driving because I can’t think of uses other than that. The less narcissistic ones just remove the mirrors altogether. Oh and EVERYBODY has a crazy loud horn.

They should make a video driving game called “Staying alive in Hyderabad”.

# – In an auto rickshaw, the staple public transportation that is cheap and efficient.

After arriving in KL, on the way home. One thing that I instantly noticed was that, we KL-ites are incredibly, incredibly quiet.

# – On the way home in a Proton Wira.

I’m missing Hyderabad already.