Bastani sonnati

Ingredients

Frozen cream chunks

• 200 mldouble cream

Base

• 600 mlwhole milk
• 300 mldouble cream
• 180 gsugar
• 3 tbspcornflour
• ½ tspmastic (saqez), ground with a pinch of sugar
• 1 tspsalep powder (optional)

Flavour

• ½ tspsaffron threads, ground and steeped in 3 tbsp hot water
• 2 tbsprose water
• 80 gslivered pistachios

Directions

1. Spread the 200 ml of cream in a thin layer in a shallow tray and freeze solid, at least 4 hours. This becomes the sheets of frozen cream that are the signature of bastani.
2. Whisk the cornflour into 100 ml of the cold milk to a smooth slurry.
3. Heat the remaining milk, cream and sugar to a bare simmer. Whisk in the slurry and cook 4–5 minutes, whisking constantly, until it thickens to a pourable custard that coats a spoon.
4. Grind the mastic to a powder with a little sugar — it is resinous and gums up a mortar otherwise — and whisk it in with the salep. Mastic is what gives bastani its faintly chewy, stretchy body, and it is not the same as vanilla or any other flavouring.
5. Take off the heat, whisk in the saffron with its steeping water and the rose water. Cool completely, then chill 2 hours.
6. Churn in an ice cream machine until thick. Without a machine, freeze in a tray and beat hard with a fork every 30 minutes for 3 hours to break up ice crystals.
7. Break the frozen cream sheet into rough shards. Fold them and most of the pistachios through the churned ice cream quickly, so the cream stays in distinct pieces rather than melting in.
8. Freeze 2 hours more to firm. Serve scattered with the remaining pistachios, or pressed between two thin wafers as an ice cream sandwich, which is how it is sold in Iran.

Technique

• Add the saffron as an infusion, not as dry threads. Ground and steeped, it colours and flavours evenly.
• Rose water varies enormously in strength. Add half, taste the cold base, then decide — it should be perfumed, not soapy.
• The frozen cream must go in cold and be folded fast, or it disappears into the base and you lose the texture entirely.

Substitutions

• Salep is hard to source and often adulterated; the cornflour and mastic together carry the texture adequately without it.
• There is no real substitute for mastic. Leaving it out gives a saffron ice cream, which is pleasant but not bastani.

Variations

• Bastani nooni, served in a sandwich between two thin waffle wafers.
• Faloodeh alongside, the frozen rice-noodle sorbet, ordered together as a pair.

History

Saffron and rosewater ice cream studded with frozen cream and pistachio, often sold pressed between wafers.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bastani sonnati?

Bastani sonnati is a dessert from Iran: saffron-rosewater ice cream with pistachios and frozen cream chunks. Saffron and rosewater ice cream studded with frozen cream and pistachio, often sold pressed between wafers.

How long does Bastani sonnati take to make?

Bastani sonnati takes 40 min plus 6 hr freezing of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 1 litre. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Bastani sonnati?

Yes, within limits. Salep is hard to source and often adulterated; the cornflour and mastic together carry the texture adequately without it. There is no real substitute for mastic. Leaving it out gives a saffron ice cream, which is pleasant but not bastani.

What is the most important thing to get right in Bastani sonnati?

Grind the mastic to a powder with a little sugar — it is resinous and gums up a mortar otherwise — and whisk it in with the salep. Mastic is what gives bastani its faintly chewy, stretchy body, and it is not the same as vanilla or any other flavouring.