Ingredients You Need

Falooda is not only delicious but also very cooling for the summers. A few ingredients in it are cooling in nature.

• Sabja seeds: These tiny black seeds are sweet basil seeds and are also known as tukmaria seeds. Sabja seeds are cooling to the body. Swap chia seeds with sweet basil seeds if you do not get them.
• Rose syrup: It is a thick red colored sweet syrup made from roses, sugar and cooling as well. For an authentic Faluda, I suggest to make it with rose syrup. It adds a lovely floral aroma and a pink color to the drink. It is the only sweetener you need in this falooda recipe.
• Falooda sev – In Hindi language, the word ‘sev’ means vermicelli and in an authentic falooda recipe, vermicelli made from corn starch or arrowroot flour is added. That being said, for healthier options you can use thin whole wheat vermicelli or rice vermicelli.
• Jelly or Jello – An optional element is jelly (jello). Add any fruity flavored vegetarian or vegan jelly like strawberry, raspberry, orange or mango jelly.
• Milk: Make it with dairy or a vegan milk. The milk must be cold or chilled.
• Nuts and dry fruits: Glazed cherries, tutti frutti, cashews, almonds, pistachios are some of the ingredients that you can add.
• Ice cream: Though vanilla ice cream is preferred choice of ice cream, other ice cream varieties like mango, orange, pistachio, butterscotch, chocolate also work well.

Note that you will find sweet basil seeds, falooda vermicelli and rose syrup in an Indian or Asian store or on amazon if you live outside South Asia.

How to Make Falooda Recipe

Soak Sweet Basil Seeds

1. First take ½ tablespoon sabja seeds (sweet basil seeds) in a bowl. You can check for some husks or stones if any and remove them.

If you do not have sweet basil seeds, substitute chia seeds.

2. Then add water and stir.

3. Soak the sabja seeds in the water for about 20 to 30 mins.

4. After 30 minutes, you will see the sabja seeds fully soaked and will look gelatinous.

5. Using a fine strainer drain the extra water from the sabja seeds. Cover and keep the soaked sabja seeds aside.

Cook Falooda Sev and Prep Nuts

6. Meanwhile, begin to prepare the faluda sev according to package instructions. Some require just soaking the falooda sev in warm water.

I had to cook them in boiling water much like noodles, so I heated up 1.5 cups water and let it come to a boil.

7. Then added 5 tablespoons sev (roughly ⅓ cup). If the faluda sev are long, then just break or chop them before cooking.

8. Boil in the water on medium heat until the vermicelli have softened.

9. In the below photo you see that the vermicelli have softened and cooked well.

10. Once cooked, then strain them and drain the water. Rinse them in running water and set aside.

Rinsing removes the extra starch from them. Cover and let the faluda sev cool completely at room temperature.

11. Chop the nuts that you will be adding. I have added some cashews, almonds and pistachios. Raisins can be kept whole.

You can rinse the nuts and raisins in water if you want, before chopping them. That’s what I do always when using nuts and dry fruits.

Make Falooda Ice Cream

12. In about 4 tall serving glasses each, add the rose syrup first. You can add about 1.5 to 2 tablespoons rose syrup depending on the sweetness preferred as well as the size of the glass.

13. Then add 2 tablespoons of the soaked sabja seeds.

14. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of the falooda sev. After adding the sev, you can add some cubes or chunks of jelly/jello if you are using it.

15. Add about 1 cup cold or chilled milk in a slow stream taking care that the milk does not mix with the rose syrup and the sabja seeds.

The layers have to be visible and that is what makes this drink visually appealing.

16. Finally add a scoop of vanilla ice cream or pista ice cream or mango ice cream or malai kulfi.

17. Top with sliced pistachios, golden raisins and sliced almonds. For a bright pop of color, you can decorate with a few glazed cherries or tutti-frutti.

18. Serve falooda ice cream immediately. While drinking falooda, with a spoon mix the rose syrup settled at the bottom with the milk and then drink and eat the vermicelli, sabja seeds and nuts.

Mixing the rose syrup makes the milk sweet as well as the ice cream also helps in sweetening the milk.

Tip: Keep the remaining soaked basil seeds and cooked sev in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. Add soaked sabja seeds to lemon-based drinks, rose-based drinks, any sherbet or even just plain water or chilled milk.