Falooda, the indian dessert-drink

I love falooda. Even though it looks like the weirdest dessert concoction ever, it’s just so good when done right. Falooda relies on quality basil seeds, falooda sev, sweetened milk plus toppings. The toppings are where you can really let your creativity go wild, and the main heart of basil seed-milk is what brings it home. The peculiar thing with falooda is that it doesn’t really look like a dessert, it’s a drink after all. But then, almost all of it is eaten with a spoon because it’s hard to drink down! We’re not sure how the dessert was invented, but it just works, so for those non-Indians out there: trust us, it works.

Traditional falooda is rose flavoured, using fresh homemade rose syrup (click for recipe). You can alternatively use other fruits such as mango too if dried rose petals are too hard to get.

Recipe: Falooda

Serves: 2

Ingredients
10 grams Basil seeds
1 1/2 cups Milk
30 grams Sugar
handful of Falooda Sev
2 tablespoons Rose Syrup (click for recipe)
2 scoops Ice cream
few extra Rose petals (Optional garnish)

Cooking method
1. Soak basil seeds in the water for at least 30 minutes, they’ll swell and grow a gel layer around them. After 30 minutes drain them.
2. While the basil seeds are soaking, add milk and sugar to a pan. Let it come to a boil on medium heat. Then immediately lower the heat and let it simmer for 5-7 minutes.
3. Remove from the heat, empty into a bottle and let it cool in the refrigerator. The milk will becomes little thick.
4. Make the falooda sev as per package instruction: Take some water in a pan, let it come to a rolling boil. Add falooda sev, let it cook for 4-5 minutes. Drain it and rinse with cold water immediately to stop further cooking. Using kitchen scissors, cut them into approx 1 inch pieces, so the will be easier to eat later. You can cut them smaller too, some restaurants have them only around 1cm in length.
5. Now to assemble the Falooda! Take two glasses. Add basil seeds to it first.
6. Then on top add your cooked falooda sev.
7. Then add 1 tablespoon of rose syrup in each glass.
8. Pour the sugar-milk in now. Some of the basil seeds will float to the top, this is normal.
9. Then add a scoop of ice cream (Some would say optional, we say MANDATORY!).
10. Garnish it with a sprinkling of rose petals.
11. Serve immediately.