falooda ice cream

Falooda is the king of ice-creams. It is a dessert which is quite popular in Indian sub-continent. You will find a special falooda counter at many weddings that looks quite classy. After all, the goodness of kulfi, rabdi or ice-cream is enhanced to a new level when we serve it as faluda. You can gauge the popularity of the dessert by the number of falooda mixes available in India and abroad. Although a mix may give you all the ingredients, I am yet to find a top notch mix.The one that we tried was too sweet,full of artificial colors and did not seem something that I could happily give to my little one. I feel making it from scratch ensures we eat a good quality dessert. Also, it saves money as you buy individual items in bulk. You can make it as many times you want.

Generally, we use dollops of vanilla, strawberry, tutti frutti or butterscotch. In a goblet, add ice cream and rose or butter scotch syrup. If you do not have rose syrup, good old Rooh Afza works. Layer it with sweet basil seeds or sabja seeds, cooked rice noodles, chopped nuts.  You can also add jelly in different colors to make it interesting. Kids can help you serve. It gets them interested in cooking too. Serve it fresh and beat the heat.

Basically, a dessert you should eat for special occasions. Also do not look at the calories. Otherwise, you will not be able to enjoy it. You can serve this at any Holi party, valentines day or summer reunions.

 Core Ingredients of falooda

There are some core ingredients of the recipe. You may prepare them separately. Later, just assemble in a tall glass, according to the number of people at home. These ingredients include the following.

1. Cooked rice noodles/falooda.
2. Soaked sabja or sweet basil seeds. You may use chia seeds if you do not find it nearby .Both are different but look similar. They also have similar properties even nutrition wise.
3. Jelly, this is optional, you may prepare this with any store bough packet or with agar-agar.
4. Chopped nuts.
5. Rose syrup/Roohafza/any syrup of your choice.
6. Ice-cream / Kulfi (not pictured above)

 Step by step instructions

Falooda sev/rice noodles

1. Depending on the rice noodle you have picked, you can either cook them in milk or water. I choose to cook them in  hot water and transfer to a bowl of cold water.

2. Start cooking the milk,reduce the milk to half.

3. Add the falooda sev to it and cook it further for 5 minutes.

4.  Now, add the rose syrup and let it chill in the refrigerator. You may add sugar if you like it extra sweet.

Sabja/Chia seeds

1 . Soak sabja seeds in water for 3-4 hours. They will soften and swell up. These seeds resemble chia. These seeds have a cooling effect on the body. Perfect to beat the summer heat. If you cannot find these basil seeds, use chia instead

2.Once they are soaked, add some of the reduced milk from the rice noodles/falooda and chill it before serving it.

How to serve?

In a tall glass, add the chilled milk mix. Add jelly, scoops of ice cream and chopped nuts. Now, mix in sabja seeds. Serve fresh.

Read the falooda recipe below

Travel tip: Badshah in Crawford market, Bachelorr’s and Haji Ali juice center all are known for its Kulfi falooda in Mumbai. It is very similar to Gadbad ice cream in Karnataka. That was quite a revelation when we went to Mangalore and Udupi. Had an amazing time in this quaint little district. Mangalore is as famous for its ice creams as it is for its roses. Pabba's is the place to go for great ice-cream.

Another great ice-cream recipe is rose  and pista.Perfect to add to a sundae or falooda.

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