Daulat ki chaat

Step 1: Mix 2 cups whole milk and 1 ¼ cups double cream in a wide steel or glass bowl, cover and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight, along with a balloon whisk and 6 small serving bowls. Make sure your kitchen is cool; a warm room is the main reason the foam collapses.

Step 2: Sift 3 tbsp icing sugar and ¼ tsp ground cardamom into the cold milk. Set the bowl over a larger bowl of ice. Whisk briskly with the balloon whisk, or a hand blender held just under the surface, for 3–4 minutes until a thick layer of fine foam builds on top.

Step 3: Gently skim off the foam with a large spoon and lay it in the chilled serving bowls. Don't press it down. Whisk again and skim again; you'll get 4–5 rounds of foam.

Step 4: After the second round, stir 1 teaspoon of the 1 pinch saffron threads milk into the bowl so the next layers are pale gold. Keep alternating plain and saffron foam. Stop when the milk underneath no longer froths well (use it later in tea).

Step 5: Don't be tempted to whip the cream to stiff peaks: that makes sweet whipped cream, not daulat ki chaat. It should be a loose, cloud-like foam that melts on your tongue.

Step 6: Top each bowl with the remaining saffron milk dotted over, 1 ⅜ oz khoya (mawa), ⅔ oz pistachios and a light dusting of 1 tbsp icing sugar. Lay on 2 edible silver leaf (vark) if you like, and serve immediately while it's ice-cold.