Ingredients
Base
- 1.2 litreswhole milk
- 250 mldouble cream
- 180 gcaster sugar
- 3 tbspcornflour, or 2 tsp salep powder
- ½ tspground green cardamom
- 1 pinchfine salt
To flavour
- 2 tbsprosewater
- ¼ tspmastic crystals, ground with 1 tsp sugar, optional
To churn
- 3 kgcrushed ice
- 500 gcoarse rock salt
To serve
- 60 gpistachios, slivered
- extra rosewater, for sprinkling
Directions
- Slake the cornflour or salep in 150 ml of the cold milk until perfectly smooth, with no lumps left at the bottom of the cup.
- Heat the remaining milk with the cream, sugar, cardamom and salt in a heavy pan over medium heat, stirring, until it steams at about 80°C (175°F).
- Pour in the slurry in a thin stream, whisking, and cook 6 to 8 minutes at a bare simmer until the mixture thickens enough to coat a spoon and a drawn finger leaves a clean track.
- Take off the heat, stir in the rosewater and ground mastic if using, then cool fast in a bowl set over iced water, stirring so no skin forms. Chill for at least 2 hours.
- Set a tall metal container inside a bucket, pack crushed ice and rock salt in alternating layers around it, and pour in the chilled base to two thirds full.
- Spin the inner container by hand, back and forth, for 45 to 60 minutes, stopping every few minutes to scrape the frozen wall inwards with a long spoon and beat it back into the liquid.
- When the mass is stiff enough to hold the mark of the spoon, pack it down, cover the surface and freeze hard for 4 hours in a shallow tray.
- Cut the block into thick slabs with a hot knife, stand them in bowls, scatter with pistachio and sprinkle with a few drops more rosewater.
Technique
- Sheer yakh is a cooked, starch-set ice cream, not a custard. That is what gives it the chewy, slightly elastic pull it is famous for and lets it be cut in slabs rather than scooped.
- The salt is what makes the ice bath work: it drops the melting point to around minus 10°C (14°F), cold enough to freeze the base while you agitate it.
- Scrape often. If you let a thick frozen wall build up, the centre stays liquid and the finished ice cream is grainy.
Substitutions
- Real salep, ground wild orchid tuber, is the traditional thickener but is protected and hard to source; cornflour with a pinch of mastic gives the closest texture.
- An electric churn works and takes 25 to 30 minutes, though the texture comes out lighter and more scoopable than the dense hand-churned original.
Variations
- Kabul carts serve it pressed between two thin wafers, cut to order from the drum.
- A saffron version steeps a good pinch of threads in the hot milk and drops the rosewater to 1 tablespoon.
Frequently asked questions
What is Sheer Yakh?
Sheer Yakh is a dessert from Afghanistan: hand-churned ice cream with cardamom, rosewater and pistachio, cut into slabs.
How long does Sheer Yakh take to make?
Sheer Yakh takes 30 min of preparation and 1 hr churning plus 4 hr freezing of cooking. The recipe makes 1.2 litres, serves 8. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Sheer Yakh?
Yes, within limits. Real salep, ground wild orchid tuber, is the traditional thickener but is protected and hard to source; cornflour with a pinch of mastic gives the closest texture. An electric churn works and takes 25 to 30 minutes, though the texture comes out lighter and more scoopable than the dense hand-churned original.
What is the most important thing to get right in Sheer Yakh?
When the mass is stiff enough to hold the mark of the spoon, pack it down, cover the surface and freeze hard for 4 hours in a shallow tray.
