Bastani Sonati

Persian saffron and pistachio ice cream, rose water-scented and layered between thin wafers

Origin: Iran (Persia)

From the journey of Pistachio.

Bastani sonati (بستنی سنتی, 'traditional ice cream') is the national ice cream of Iran: a preparation so distinctive in flavour and texture that it bears no resemblance to the French custard ice cream that dominates Western consumption. Its defining character comes from three ingredients unique to the Persian pantry. Saffron (za'faran) stains the base a deep amber-gold and provides a floral, metallic warmth. Rose water (golab) perfumes the mixture with a clarity that no other flower extract matches. And pistachios (pesteh), the quintessential Persian nut grown in the orchards of Khorasan, Rafsanjan, and Kerman, scatter through the frozen cream in slivers that glitter green against the golden ground. The fourth element — salep, the ground root of wild orchids from the mountains of Anatolia and northern Iran — provides bastani with its characteristic stretchiness and resistance; a properly made bastani stretches when pulled, and does not melt into a pool but holds its form on a warm afternoon. The ice cream is served sandwiched between two thin wafers (nan-e bastani) in the classic Tehran street form, or scooped into a glass and eaten with a long spoon. Its origin as a street food is inseparable from the traditional ice cream sellers of Tehran's Grand Bazaar and the old qanat-cooled cellars of Isfahan, where snow brought down from the Alborz Mountains in winter was stored below ground to keep perishables through the summer: an ancient Persian refrigeration system that made chilled desserts possible centuries before mechanical cooling.

Ingredients

Base

600 ml full-fat milk
300 ml double cream
4 egg yolks
150 g caster sugar

Flavouring

0.75 tsp saffron threads, steeped in 3 tbsp just-boiled water for 20 minutes
2 tbsp rose water

Thickening

1 tsp salep powder (or 1 tsp cornflour as substitute)

Pistachio

80 g raw pistachios, blanched, peeled and cut into thin slivers

To serve

12 thin rectangular wafers, to serve (optional)

Method

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a large bowl until the mixture is pale and thick, about 3 minutes.
Heat the milk in a heavy saucepan over medium heat until just below simmering. Whisk the hot milk slowly into the egg mixture, then return everything to the saucepan.
In a small bowl, whisk the salep powder with 2 tablespoons of cold milk until smooth. Add to the saucepan. Cook over low-medium heat, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon (about 8 to 10 minutes). Do not allow it to boil.
Remove from the heat. Stir in the saffron with its steeping liquid and the rose water. Strain through a fine sieve into a clean bowl. Allow to cool completely, then stir in the double cream.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours until very cold. Churn in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions.
In the final 2 minutes of churning, add the pistachio slivers and let them distribute evenly through the ice cream.
Transfer to a freezer-safe container. Press a sheet of baking paper directly onto the surface. Freeze for at least 3 hours until firm.
To serve in the traditional style, scoop the ice cream between two wafers, pressing gently to sandwich. Alternatively, scoop into glasses and scatter a few extra pistachio slivers on top.

Notes

If you do not have an ice cream machine, pour the chilled custard into a shallow freezer-safe container and freeze. Every 45 minutes for the first 3 hours, remove it and beat vigorously with a fork to break up ice crystals, then return to the freezer. Fold in the pistachios during the final beating. The result will be slightly less smooth than churned bastani but the flavour will be identical. For a more pronounced stretch, increase the salep to 1.5 teaspoons; salep is available from Middle Eastern and Persian grocery stores.

The Gastrographer

Name: Bastani Sonati
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 6 h
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Iran
Ingredients: 600 ml full-fat milk; 300 ml double cream; 4 egg yolks; 150 g caster sugar; 0.75 tsp saffron threads, steeped in 3 tbsp just-boiled water for 20 minutes; 2 tbsp rose water; 1 tsp salep powder (or 1 tsp cornflour as substitute); 80 g raw pistachios, blanched, peeled and cut into thin slivers; 12 thin rectangular wafers, to serve (optional)

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