Persian Saffron Ice Cream (Tehran style) — the Akbar Mashti Tehran café version

i. Origin & history

Akbar Mashti was a Tehran ice-cream maker who, in the early twentieth century, opened a small ice-cream shop on Vali-Asr Street that is now legendary. His descendants still run it.

ii. Ingredients

Makes 8 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 500 ml whole milk
• 500 ml double cream
• 250 g sugar
• 3 tsp salep powder
• Very large pinch saffron, steeped
• 3 tbsp rosewater
• Pinch salt
• 120 g clotted cream, frozen and chopped
• 80 g pistachios
• 16 thin wafers (nooni or wafer biscuits)

iii. Method

1. Whisk salep with 200 ml milk. Bring remaining milk, cream and sugar to a simmer. Whisk in slurry; cook 4 min to thicken; off heat add saffron, rose water and salt.
2. Chill 4 hours; churn; fold in clotted cream and pistachios; freeze 3 hours.
3. To serve in the Tehran style: spread a generous slab of ice cream between two thin wafers — bastani nooni.

iv. Tips & common mistakes

• Use the freshest ingredients you can. The recipe relies on them.
• Read the method through first. Several steps must be ready in advance.
• Season patiently. Sweetness and salt are tuned at the end, not the start.

v. Variations

Bastani nooni sandwiches the ice cream. Cardamom variant adds ½ tsp ground cardamom. Akbar Mashti's secret is reportedly a high salep ratio and the freshest milk in Tehran.

vii. More from Persian

• Persian Saffron Ice Cream — the classic
• Bastani — traditional
• Pashmak — Persian sugar floss
• Monaka — Japanese wafer ice-cream sandwich
• Gaz — Persian nougat
• Sholeh Zard — saffron rice pudding