A Rose Garden Of A Dessert! Recipe

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This weekend we had company. This is nothing new for us, weekends are always for entertaining. This guest was different however, at least for me. My husbands' old boarding school pal was in the Bay Area. So on Sunday she and her sister drove over for a big Indian lunch at our house.
I've become Facebook friends with quite a few of my husbands' old running buddies from Connecticut and various New England boarding schools. One of my best Facebook friends is one of his old roommates when they were 14. Even though I feel like I have met many of these people, I haven't. Until Sunday.
It's very weird to meet someone one already knows. Weird and yet cool also. I had someone from my virtual world in my actual house. Sort of like Avatar..but not. Since Jemima reads this blog, I promised to cook an Indian lunch for her and her sister Sarah.
Cooking the actual meal began the day before. Almost all the dishes were slow cooked in clay. That menu will be for a later post, what I want to talk about today is the dessert!
I've gotten in the habit lately of experimenting with desserts. When I cook a large Indian meal, I always like to try and do something interesting at the end. Large, heavy western-style slabs of cake or pie don't go, so I like to do some research, read and then see what I can make with what I have on hand.
On my last trip to our local Indian market I'd picked up a packet of seviyan or falooda noodles. The first time I'd had these noodles was at an Iranian ice cream parlor in Los Angeles called Mashti Malones. The threadlike little noodles were mixed into a rosewater ice cream and were amazingly delicious and addictive. I was hooked.
Originally I thought I'd just blend some of the falooda noodles into a rosewater pistachio ice cream I was making and be done with it. But then I got Falooda Madness! I spent the next two days reading all about Falooda, Faloodah, Faluda, and Faludah online. There are almost as many variations on what one can do with this as there are spellings of it.
Falooda was originally developed in Persia/Iran and then traveled to India and Pakistan via the Mughals. Desserts involving these skinny little vermicelli are found all over Southeast Asia. I decided they needed to be found in Sonoma too. It was going to be a Falooda kind of weekend.
Falooda is sort of like an Ice Cream Sundae . An ice cream sundae designed by a Paris parfumerie. Traditionally the sort of Falooda I set out to make contains Kulfi and not western-style ice cream as we know it. I've made Kulfi, but this time I used home made rose flower pistachio ice cream which worked just fine.
The first thing one needs for a tasty Falooda is Rose Syrup

Other flavored syrups can be used, but traditionally rose is the one most associated with this dessert. Rose syrups can be bought but it's cheaper and pretty quick and easy to make your own.
Next the noodles.
I bought a package of thin Falooda noodles at the Indian market. Other substitutes are a very fine vermicelli. All that is needed is a handful.
Basil seeds are found in many drinks and desserts. They're a refreshing and healthful additive.
They're also fun because they resemble tiny little tadpoles in whatever ones' serving them in. Hey, to me that's fun. They're found in most Asian markets.

"When soaked in water the seeds of several basil varieties become gelatinous, and are used in Asian drinks and desserts such as falooda or Sherbet. Such seeds are known variously as sabza, subza, takmaria, tukmaria, tukhamaria, falooda, selasih (Malay/Indonesian) or hột é (Vietnamese). They are used for their medicinal properties in Ayurveda, the traditional medicinal system of India and Siddha medicine, a traditional Tamil system of medicine. They are also used as popular drinks in Southeast Asia."

So there!
Ice Creamof course is the centerpiece of the dish and then to finish I mixed up a bit of saffron sirkhand and used that as a topping, then sprinkled chopped raw pistachio nuts on top . I have seen whipped cream and a cherry used but somehow, it seemed wrong for what I was looking for.
A long silver spoon and a straw and Voila! You are in the Falooda business!
This may seem complicated or a lot of steps , but it's not. The rose syrup makes up easily and can be prepared well ahead of time. It keeps in the fridge and can be used in many other Indian desserts. The noodles cook fast and also keep chilled. The basil seeds may be the only tricky thing to find but the ever popular chia seed might be an easy substitute.
If you've never had this dessert you are in for a great treat. It's more than just a sweet at the close of a meal, it's a walk through a perfumed garden of sweetened delights. The combo of tastes, color and textures makes this a one of a kind grand finale!




Prep time:
Servings: 4
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Ingredients

Cost per serving $4.76 view details

Directions

  1. Rose Syrup
  2. Bring the water and sugar mixture to a boil
  3. simmer it for ten minutes
  4. Add the lime juice and rose water
  5. simmer for another 10 minutes
  6. Take the pan off the heat and allow the mixture to cool.
  7. Then put it in a clean dry jar or bottle and cork or cap it tightly.
  8. I colored my syrup with about 3 drops of red food coloring to give it a nice rosy glow.
  9. cool and place in tightly corked bottle.
  10. refrigerate
  11. Noodles
  12. put noodles into a pan containing
  13. 2 cups of whole milk
  14. A pinch of cardamom
  15. 1 tsp of sugar
  16. When the milk is hot turn the heat off.
  17. Add in the noodles.
  18. Let them soak for about 5 to 7 minutes.
  19. When the noodles are cooked, take them out of the milk mixture, drain and chill them. Save the cooked milk and chill it also.
  20. Basil Seed
  21. Soak 2 Tbs of basil seeds in 2 cups of water for at least 30 minutes , or until they become gelatinous. Drain.
  22. Assembling Your Falooda
  23. Into a white wine glass or tall ice tea glass :
  24. Pour 2 Tbs of rose syrup
  25. Add a few cooked falooda noodles
  26. Add 1 tsp of basil seed on top of the noodles
  27. Take the chilled milk mixture , add in 1/2 scoop of ice cream and beat with a hand mixer until frothy.
  28. Tilt the glass so layers form then add some of the thickened milk mixture
  29. Put a generous scoop of ice cream into the milk. Don't be stingy baby.
  30. Mix up a bit of saffron sirkhand and use that as a topping, then sprinkle chopped raw pistachio nuts on top
  31. A long silver spoon and a straw and Voila! You are in the Falooda business!

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Nutrition Facts

Amount Per Serving %DV
Serving Size 356g
Recipe makes 4 servings
Calories 1117  
Calories from Fat 30 3%
Total Fat 3.3g 4%
Saturated Fat 0.4g 2%
Trans Fat 0.0g  
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 32mg 1%
Potassium 251mg 7%
Total Carbs 216.3g 58%
Dietary Fiber 0.8g 3%
Sugars 213.78g 143%
Protein 1.65g 3%
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Reviews

  • Claudia lamascolo
    Absolutely a perfect drink! love the pistachio on top!
    • Ryan Boudreaux
      Appears to be a wonderful preparation that I would enjoy making and consuming!
      • Evelyn Scott
        What an absolutely fantastic mixture of tastes and textures, I can't wait to try this delicious recipe.

        Comments

        • Catherine Pappas
          April 9, 2010
          This looks absolutely lovely and delicious! So yummy!
          • Citronetvanille
            February 9, 2010
            Hi Kathy,
            Hmmm I never did anything, the post you see, got directly imported from my website. For the sea scallops spoons of yesterday, I imported them, then I saw they were already there, so I deleted the entry I manually entered. Hope that helps! silvia
            • kathy gori
              February 9, 2010
              thanks, it's very light and delicious. wanted to ask you how did you link your webpage to cook eat share? I'd like to be able to post here the same way we did on foodbuzz just by pasting in a link to my site.
              • Citronetvanille
                February 9, 2010
                That must be delightful, I just know it from the ingredients!
                1 reply

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