You can make Persian ice cream at home

by Sarah J. Gim, Posted Jul 26th 2006 @ 9:00PM

In LA, Mashti Malone's ice cream is a a bit of a cult hit. No, it's not ice cream from an Irish-Iranian family. Mashti and Mehdi Shirvani grew up in a small town in northern Iran, and after immigrating to Los Angeles, took over Mugsy Malone's Ice Cream Parlor, but didn't have enough money to change the sign completely. They could only change the first half, and thus Mugsy Malone's became Mashti Malone's.

Mashti's has several flavors that include Mango, Orange blossom, and Pomegranate, but it' the Rosewater flavors for which people come back. There is Creamy Rosewater, Rosewater Saffron with Pistachios, and Ginger Rosewater. If you have an ice cream maker and can find rosewater at a local Persian or Asian market, you can use this recipe from the Citizen Times to make what they call "Persian Ice Cream," basically the same as Mashti's Rosewater, Saffron, and Pistachio.

Persian Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1/2 of a vanilla bean
6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon saffron
1/3 cup rosewater
1 cup finely chopped pistachios

Bring half-and-half to a boil, add vanilla bean and saffron. Beat egg yolks and sugar together. Add half-and-half mixture slowly to yolks, then cook over simmering water until thickened. Remove, cool in an ice bath, add rosewater. Refrigerate overnight. Strain through a fine strainer, add pistachios, and freeze in ice cream maker.

Serves 4 to 6.

Filed Under: Vegetarian, Ingredients, Chefs & Restaurants, Restaurants
Tags: america, cooking, dairy, dessert, eggs, food, food and dink, fruit, ice cream, LA, la restaurants, los angeles, los angeles restaurants, mashti malone's, MashtiMalone's, middle east, nuts, recipes, rosewater, rosewater ice cream, seeds, spices, sugar, west coast

Chew on This

Royal Wedding Cake Details Revealed! - YumSugar

Make Your Own Pop Tarts - CHOW
Denny's Introduces a Maple Bacon Sundae - Eater
Whole Foods Opening Bars in Stores - USA Today
Rules Of Bar Etiquette -- For The Bartender - HuffPost Food

Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-27-2006 @12:38AM C(h)ristine said... I'm so excited to see this post! Thanks for posting the recipe--I live in the SF Bay Area and have only heard about Mashti Malone's...and have always wanted to try their ice cream.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

7-27-2006 @4:13AM GR said... Similar flavors are also quite common in India. These are available in the SF Bay Area Indian Stores. Look for "Real" Ice Cream.
"Real" also has a store on El Camino in Santa Clara.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

7-30-2006 @12:37PM MJ said... Looks and sounds great. Will love to try this at home.Already make great homemade ice cream this should be a snap!
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

8-03-2006 @3:38AM spline9 said... Ok, I just got back from Mashti Malone's. The ice cream was interesting. I had the rosewater saffron. It was good but not amazing. Different and interesting. The gf had the orange blossom. Very perfumey. Almost overwhemingly so. The first few bites was a bit much. Like eating perfume. After a while you kinda get used to it then its not so bad. Its still a bit much. I had a taste of the sour cherry with some sort of rice noodle (i forget what its called) and that was pretty tasty. The noodles were kinda odd also but I think I could get used to it pretty quick. I ended up buying a pint of Turkish Coffee ice cream for home.
I dont think the gf would be interested in going there again but I'd go just to check out the other stuff.
Reply