Black Pepper and Strawberry Kulfi

It's obvious that the weather plays such a huge part in what we eat. The turn of the seasons means that we get lots of different vegetables and fruits throughout the year ultimately inspiring us to make lots of different recipes. But, in a way, it's strange to think how sports can influence our desire to eat certain foods.

Currently, in the UK, Wimbledon is well underway.  You don't have to be a tennis enthusiast to know that Wimbledon and strawberries and cream go hand in hand. I was intrigued so I had to look up the history. It turned out that it was during the Tudor era that strawberries and cream were first paired together by a man named Thomas Wolsey. Either way, it's such a huge success that each year, 28000 kg of strawberries and 7000 litres of cream is consumed at Wimbledon each year!

Keeping in theme with this, we decided as a family to go to a Pick Your Own farm and pick strawberries. With so many beautiful strawberries, we kept picking and ended up with nearly 5 kilos worth! Now we just had the "simple" task of using all of them in our cooking!

We enjoyed eating the strawberries on their own but I also made a few strawberry based recipes. One such recipe was Strawberry kulfi with black pepper - a variation to the Mango Ginger kulfi I made earlier! Recently, I came to know that not only cream but a little sprinkle of black pepper powder goes well with fresh strawberries. I just HAD to give it a go, well I shouldn't, but we Indians do sprinkle chaat masala on fruit and eat it as chaat. The kulfi tasted great and what has been even better is the Sun slowly beginning to peek from behind those clouds! Summer Bliss

You will need :-

• 1 can condensed milk ( 375g )
• 300 ml double cream
• 250 g fresh strawberries washed and pat dried
• 2 tablespoon sugar ( use less or more depends sweetness of the strawberries )
• 2 tsp black pepper powder lightly crushed
• Few fresh strawberries for garnishing

Method :-
Place strawberries and sugar in a food processor to make a puree.
Add black papper powder and condenced milk, mix and leave it aside.
Gently whip up the cream till it hold it's shape , then fold it into the strawberry mixture.
Pour it into kulfi moulds, small ramekins or metal tray. ( I set this kulfi this time in a silicon cupcake and cookie moulds )
Cover with cling film then set in to freezer.
Let freeze more than 6-7 hours or till set.
When ready to eat let the kulfi mould stand outside the freezer for 4-5 minutes before.
Garnish with fresh strawberries and if you want sprinkle little black pepper powder.