Hello everyone!

I thought I put up a summertime dessert recipe for all of you lucky guys who are in midst of your beautiful warm summer! (Not like me, shivering in the cold of Melbourne’s winter :D)

So, although I’m Persian, I had only heard of this dessert and was intrigued by it because of its unique name. Literally, “Yakh” means ice, “dar” mean “in”, and “Behesht” means heaven or paradise. It was probably named so, because the aroma of rosewater and cardamom in this cool dessert will transport you to a Perisan Paradise, especially when you are in middle of a very hot summer 😀

As far as the recipe goes, it is actually pretty simple.  “Ice in Paradise” can be classified as a “blancmange”, meaning it is a sweet dessert made with milk. Most recipes use cornstarch as the thickening ingredient for this dessert. But, even without, I found this particular recipe I used results in a very nice consistency. The only important trick is to keep stirring the milk mixture while on stovetop, to avoid the mixture going lumpy or sticking to the bottom of the pan.

I really hope you guys like it! I would love to know what you guys think of it if you make it at home 😉

Ingredients:
(From Ariana Bundy)
500 ml skinny milk
1/4 cup rice flour
75g raw sugar
1 tbsp rose water
3 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
powdered pistachios, to garnish
powdered dried rose petals, to garnish

Method:
1.Place sugar, rice flour and milk in a saucepan.
2. Have the cardamom pods and rosewater handy,near the stove.
3. Place the saucepan on medium-low heat and start stirring with a wooden spoon. DO NOT STOP STIRRING. Make sure you scrape the bottom of saucepan as well while stirring.
4. Keep stirring until the mixture starts to thicken. This will take approximately 10 minutes.
5. Add the rosewater and cardamom pods and keep stirring for a further 2 minutes, until it is very thick and glossy.
6. Take the saucepan off the heat and remove the cardamom pods.
7. Pour the mixture into ramekins or your preferred dish.
8. Let cool completely and then place in fridge overnight.
9. Before serving, garnish your Ice in Paradise with pistachios and rose petals. I put dried rose petals and pistachios in my blender and made them into a powder and use this to garnish. You can use slivered pistachios as well.
Enjoy!~~~