Apr 26
Bastani Akbar Mashti
Its almost summer and what better way to celebrate than have my all time favorite Persian Bastani (ice cream) Akbar Mashti!!! Below is a simple way to make this treat. 
Ingredients (for at least 8 servings):
3 quarts creamy/rich vanilla ice cream
1/2 pint heavy whip cream — you can adjust the amount of whip cream based on your desire to have more or less in the ice cream
3/4 cup rose water (golab) — you can adjust this amount to your liking
chopped pistachio –desired amount (usually not too much ~ 1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon saffron –might be best to mix with a tad bit of hot water to become liquid prior to use (adjust the amount if you desire more or less saffron)
Directions:
First you will need to pour the whip cream into a deep enough plate where you can place it in the freezer to become frozen. You don’t want it to be too thick, so if needed use more than one dish to pour the whip cream into. Once the whip cream is frozen you want to take a knife and cut it until little square pieces are formed.
Something to keep in mind is that you dont want the ice cream to melt when you are preparing it. I typically put ice in a large bowl and then put a smaller bowl on top of the larger bowl…the ice will keep the smaller bowl cold. Then pour all the vanilla ice cream into the smaller bowl and use a large spoon or spatula to mix the ice cream. Add the saffron, rose water, frozen whip cream squares and pistachio (you might want to keep some pistachios for later) and stir with the spatula until everything is evenly mixed.
Once the Akbar Mashti is mixed up pout the ice cream into a suitable container that can be placed back in the fridge. At this time if you like sprinkle some pistachios on top of the ice cream (this is best if using a rectangular or square container to store the bastani in). Allow the ice cream to freeze again and then serve as desired.
17 people like this post.
Tagged with: Ice Cream • Pistachios • Rose Water • Saffron • Whip Cream
Oct 21
There are a few different variations of Masghati, which is a Persian sweet made basically from starch. This specific recipe is for Masghati borideh shodeh (cut up pieces).
Masghati (borideh shodeh)
Ingredients:
200 grams starch –its preferred that you use a flower starch, but I used corn starch
400 grams sugar
5-6 cups water
1/2 cup rose water
100 grams heated oil
1/3 cup cut up pistachio (optional)
hail (cardamom) powder (optional)
Saffron (optional) — I added yellow food coloring instead just to give it a color, but you dont have to add either
Directions:
Dissolve your starch in 5 to 6 cups of cold water. If needed you can run it through a strainer before transferring the contents into a pot on the stove top. I found that all my starch had fully dissolved and when I ran it through the strainer nothing was left behind. The temperature for the stove should be set to medium and you will need to constantly stir the mixture until it starts to thicken. Once it begins to thicken (you will notice it starts to look like a jelly like substance) then you will add the sugar and the rose water and continuously stir the mixture. I also added cardamom powder, but you can add the seed if you wish or not add it at all. Then I added the heated oil to the mixture and still continued to stir. You basically want to allow all the water to evaporate, until it is fully thickened and if you create a line across the top with a knife the line doesn’t fade that easily. At the end you will pour the thickened mixture into a dish and allow it to cool fully before cutting it into diamond pieces. You may choose to spring the top with the cut up pistachio you have while it is cooling (and before cutting it).
10 people like this post.
Tagged with: Cardamom • Pistachios • Rose Water • Starch • Sugar
Oct 04
This is a lot like the Persian recipe for Halva, except the one main difference is this is made with rice flour while Halva is made with wheat flour (typically white flour). I used a smaller amount for my ingredients because I wanted to make less.
Tar Halva
Ingredients:
1 cup rice flour
3/4 cup oil
1/4 cup rose water
1 teaspoon liquid saffron (or you can use a bit of ground up dry saffron)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
Directions:
In a small pot bring the water to a boil and add the sugar, rose water, and saffron. Stir until sugar is dissolved and leave on a low heat. In another larger pot on medium temperature heat up the oil and then add the rice flour and continuously stir. Once the flour has started to change color and gets to a darker color you will place it off the stove burner and carefully pour in the liquid. Be careful it will steam up and is hot! Then you will quickly begin stirring the contents together until they begin to solidify and kind of stick together. Tar Halva doesn’t stick together like Halva does because of the different texture. Also, Tar Halva seems to be oily. Pour the contents into a plate and press down and then give it a design.
Note: One other main difference is that you will fry the rice flour for Tar Halva a bit less than you do the flour used for Halva.
Tagged with: Rice Flour • Rose Water • Saffron • Sugar
