This easy, eggless and no churn Persian saffron ice cream is flavoured with saffron, cardamom, rose water, vanilla and crushed pistachios.
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Bastani Sonati
In Iran, this ice cream is known as Bastani Sonati or Bastani Sonati Zaferani, in Farsi. It is a very popular offering on hot summer days and also for Nowruz, the Persian New Year that falls on the first day of spring. Click here to read more about Nowruz.
Since we like a bit of language fun here on LinsFood, let’s take a look at the name, shall we?
- Bastani Sonati Zaferani = بستنی سنتی زعفرانی (read from right to left)
- Bastani (بستنی ) = ice cream
- Sonati (سنتی ) = traditional
- Zaferani (زعفرانی) = (of saffron, zaferan is saffron)
Bastani Sonati Zaferani = traditional saffron ice cream.
Persian Saffron Ice Cream
This Persian saffron ice cream is romance in a bowl. Not only is it pretty to look at but its aroma of saffron and rose water will draw you from miles away!
If you’ve been a long time LinsFood Middle Eastern recipes follower, you’ll know that saffron, rose water, cardamom and pistachios are a very popular combination in Middle Eastern and South Asian cooking. The Indian kulfi is the first thing that comes to mind for me, as far as the latter is concerned.
Here on LinsFood, we have many desserts that use this combination or at least 2 of the 4. Like the following:
Bastani Sonati Zaferani
The traditional Persian saffron and rosewater ice cream is made with the following ingredients:
- whole milk
- heavy cream
- egg yolks
- sugar
- saffron
- rose water
- cardamom
- vanilla (not always)
- pistachios
- dried edible roses
- salep (sahlap or sahlab)
- mastic
Salep and mastic, if included, are often used together, just like in the Turkish ice cream, donduma. Salep is made from the tuberous roots of orchids and is traditionally made into a drink, dating back to the Ottoman empire.
Mastic is an edible resin used extensively in the Mediterranean and the Middle East as a thickener. It gives a sticky, gooey texture in whatever it is added to.
Many modern Iranian ice cream vendors do away with mastic and salep, and you don’t lose any of the flavour at all.
Eggless Persian Saffron Ice Cream
My recipe here is eggless Bastani Zaferani. Notice that I omitted the word sonati, because technically, without the egg yolks, it’s not bastani sonati (traditional)!
When I first started making this ice cream in the 90s, I made the traditional version, complete with sahlap and mastic. Because that’s the recipe I learnt from the an old friend’s mum. I talk about Zareen and her family bakery over on the Barbari article.
We’d simmer everything in a saucepan to make the traditional ice cream custard before adding it to the ice cream maker.
But once I had kids and discovered that the girls couldn’t eat eggs, this pistachio ice cream became an egg free ice cream.
So we do away with the yolks and use condensed milk instead for the custard base.
The advantage of using condensed milk in making ice cream is that you don’t need an ice cream maker. And your ice cream also doesn’t need any churning. But given the nature of condensed milk, especially its texture, you still end up with a creamy and smooth ice cream with a soft touch. That means our Persian saffron ice cream is easily scooped straight out of the freezer.
Ingredients
LinsFood’s eggless Persian saffron ice cream needs:
- Condensed Milk – you can use skimmed or whole fat
- Double Cream (heavy cream) – about 40% fat content
- saffron (+ pinch of sugar for grinding)
- pistachios
- rosewater – found near vanilla in baking sections
- vanilla extract – the one with tiny seeds is especially good
- ground cardamom
- dried edible roses – purely for bling purposes! Click here to read more.
If you use Amazon, here are my affiliate links for some of the products above:
The Recipe
This eggless, no churn ice cream is very easy to make, there’s no cooking involved, it’s all a matter of whisking and freezing.
I shudder every time I see someone suggesting using a store bought vanilla ice cream as a base for your Persian ice cream. Presumably to skip the cooking stage. Instead of doing that, make our no churn version instead!
This is what we’ll be doing:
- Make the bloomed saffron (2-minute job).
- Mix all the flavourings with the condensed milk (1 minute?)
- Whip the cream to a stiff peak stage (2-minute job).
- Whisk in the condensed milk (another minute?).
- Pour into container (I’m using a loaf pan), cover and freeze for a minimum 6 hours. I prefer to do it overnight to allow the flavours to develop and the ice cream to set properly.
Super easy, right? Ditch that store bought vanilla ice cream!
How to Serve Persian Bastani?
Serve it just as you would any ice cream, topped with extra ground pistachios, and crushed rose petals, if you like.
What is very traditional in Iran is to serve this bastani as an ice cream sandwich between two thin wafers. This is my kids’ favourite way to eat this eggless Persian saffron ice cream.
How to Store
It’s ice cream, so you want to keep it in the freezer, naturally. If yours is going to survive longer than 5 days, I suggest that you store it in an airtight container with cling film touching the surface of the ice cream. This will prevent the top getting icy.
I tend to just leave it in the loaf tin with the cling film, as ours doesn’t last longer than 2 – 3 days.
And there you have it. A very easy recipe for no churn, eggless Persian saffron ice cream.
Shall we get our aprons on?
Images by LinsFoodies
If you enjoy the recipe and article, drop me a comment and let me know. And if you are feeling like a star, don’t forget that 5-star rating!
If you make this recipe, post it on Instagram and tag me @azlinbloor and hashtag it #linsfood.
Lin xx
Eggless Persian Saffron Ice Cream (No Churn Ice Cream)
Equipment
- freezer
- 2 medium-large bowls
- 1 electric whisk/handheld beaters stand mixer will work too
- ladles and spoons as required
- 1 1 loaf tin, measuring 23cm x 13cm (9" x 5") or any freezer proof container of similar capacity
Ingredients
- 400 g condensed milk this is 1 can in the UK, anything similar in amount will work
- 600 ml double cream (heavy cream/whipping cream) this is 1 large tub in the UK, anything similar in amount will work
- 30 g pistachios
- 16 thin wafers if making ice cream sandwiches
Flavourings
- ¼ tsp saffron threads
- 1 pinch white sugar for the saffron above
- ½ Tbsp hot water for the saffron above
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- 1 Tbsp rose water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Topping/Garnish
- 2 Tbsp coarsely ground pistachios or as much as you want
- dried edible rose petals or buds you can grind up the rose petals if you like, click on the link and read more
Instructions
- Put the kettle on with just a little water and bring to a boil. We only need ½ a tablespoon. Then leave it for about 10 minutes while you get all your ingredients measured and equipment ready.Make yourself a hot drink with the rest of the water?
Make the Liquid Saffron (Bloomed Saffron)
- Tip the saffron and a pinch of sugar into your mortar and grind the saffron in a circular motion until it's ground up into a fine powder.
- Add the hot water, stir and set aside. This is your bloomed saffron, or liquid saffron.Leave it to soak while you chop the pistachios.
Other Prep Work
- Pistachios. Grind the pistachios coarsely. You can do this in a food chopper, with a pestle and mortar on using a rolling pin and plastic bag.If using a food chopper, pulse it, to get a coarse grind. Some of it will be finer, but that only adds to the texture of our Persian saffron ice cream.
- Condensed Milk. Tip out the condensed milk into a medium-sized bowl.
- Add the liquid saffron, ground cardamom, rose water and vanilla paste and mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula. Set aside.
Let's Make the Ice Cream
- Whisk the cream on high until stiff.
- Pour the flavoured condensed milk onto the whipped cream and with your beaters, whisk everything until you have a thick, homogenous mix.
- Fold in the chopped pistachios.
- Pour the whole mixture into the loaf tin or any freezer-proof dish you're using.Cover with cling film, letting the film touch the surface, and freeze for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
To Serve
- You can either top your whole ice cream with ground pistachios and roses, then serve. Or serve the individual portions, letting everyone top their own ice cream as they wish.
- To serve as ice cream sandwiches, just place a scoop on a wafer and top with another wafer.
This ice cream was incredibly yummy! Thanks we loved it!
This ice cream sounds so sophisticated, can’t wait to try it!
That must be the prettiest ice cream ever! Looking forward to making it for the weekend. Thanks Lin.
My pleasure. Let me know how it goes, Cassie.