Turkish ice cream leaves city diners amazed, find out how

Dondurma, a delight that is different from anything else you’ve tasted before, originated in Turkey and Azerbaijan in the 1850s and has been a rage all over the world for the last few years.

Until a few months ago, dondurma was available only in Delhi in the entire country but has now made an entry into Chennai — two youngsters, Akshay Kashyap and Sonu Kumar, can be seen manning the ice cream station inside BnB Live Grill at OMR Food Street in Navallur. They learnt it from a native of Turkey and, “I’m not willing to tell you anymore because people can copy the recipe and method,” giggles Sonu.

What makes this ice cream resistant to melting are peculiar thickening agents and ingredients such as salep, a flour made from the root of the purple orchid flower and mastic, a resin that gives the ice cream its chewiness. Milk, whipped cream and sugar form the other essential ingredients.

The elasticity of the ice cream lends itself to a rather fun buying experience too. And that’s exactly what most Turkish ice cream vendors, including Akshay and Sonu do. They have their ‘acts’ rehearsed — sort of like the experience you have at a teppanyaki. It’s fascinating to watch how these vendors trick and tease people with the ice cream before finally handing it over to them.

The duo begins by tossing the whole mass of ice cream in the air, and then taunts the customer with it by handing over just the cone while the customer tries to hastily grab it. They also invert the cone with the contents in it while performing these tricks; however, the ice cream does not fall! This happens for a few minutes before you finally get to taste this Turkish delight.