Falooda, a sweet drink made from vermicelli, tapioca, and milk, originated in India via Persia and has spread to other countries with variations in ingredients and flavors. Kulfi, a frozen dessert, is often paired with falooda or used as a base for it. Bubble tea and Nam manglak are similar drinks found in other parts of Asia.
The thought of a refreshing summer sweet drink made from vermicelli, tapioca and milk is enough to confuse even adventurous Western cooks. Once they try falooda, the chances are excellent that they will become instant converts. As odd as the ingredients list sounds, the falooda has a lot of mouthfeel with the smooth vermicelli and round tapioca pearls offering a slippery texture that the rose-scented latte sticks to.
Variations of similar sweet drinks abound. Nam manglak, a Thai concoction spun from rose water, basil seeds and sugar is a distant cousin. Bubble tea is popular not only throughout Asia but is becoming the hip, new sip in modern Asian kitchens across the United States and Europe. Younger diners, especially, get a giggle from the little moons of tapioca that slide easily over a straw and down their throats.
The Falooda first appeared in India via Persia some 600 years ago and has since spread its wings and flown to Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and points east. It is related to an ice cream-like concoction that can be traced back over 2,500 years called a faloodeh. Persian versions combine rosewater, pistachios and lime juice with cornstarch or arrowroot and vermicelli noodles.
Afghan and Iranian falooda often substitute arrowroot for the wheat used to make vermicelli noodles. Other variations are found in the primary flavours. Instead of rose sugar water, cooks in this part of the world might offer guests the drink created with fig, mango, saffron or chocolate as the main ingredient.
Some fans like to sweetly season an Indian frozen dessert confection or kulfi. Others skip the drink ingredients and stick to unadorned vermicelli with something other than an icy rosewater glaze to decorate their kulfi. Vermicelli prepared in this way is also called falooda.
Westerners sometimes describe kulfi as Indian ice cream, but there are a number of differences. While ice cream freezes and flakes milk, sugar and eggs, kulfi starts with a base of sweetened condensed milk, which is slowly cooked and stirred until reduced by half. Cooking causes the flavors to melt and caramelize, somewhat like South American flan. At this stage, the mixture is frozen in molds.
Other variations include adding tutti frutti, imagining it with a number of different types of rose syrups or coconut cream. In some areas, black or green tea creates a unique flavor. In these modern times, some cooks add ice cream directly into the falooda drink or replace it with kulfi in the faloodeh.
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