Falooda Recipe (a South Asian Dessert Drink)

Falooda is a delicious dessert/drink of milk, sweet noodles and basil seeds, that is popular in South Asia, the Middle East and in parts of South East Asia.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

falooda
Falooda

What is Falooda?

Falooda doesn’t need any introduction to many. It’s a cold drink/dessert popular in India, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia and parts of the Middle East. Served either just as a drink or as an ice cream float, it is extremely pretty to look at and tastes even better! And I’ve been informed by a reader that in Mauritius, it is known as Aloodah.

Falooda is believed to be yet another Persian culinary legacy via the Moghuls. Are we even surprised at that anymore? The Persian’s Faloodeh/Faludeh goes as far back as 400BC, during the reign of Artaxexes II but this original version was a dessert of cornflour vermicelli noodles with a semi frozen rose syrup. Pretty similar to today’s version, as you will see.

Where to get Flaooda Sev?

The South Asian Falooda is also made with said cornflour noodles called Falooda Sev, easily found in shops specialising in Indian foods. I have, on many occasions, just used standard rice vermicelli that are used for other Indian desserts. If you have an Indian grocer near you, take a wander through and see if you can spot them. Or just ask the shopkeeper!

Of course, if you don’t, go online! Here in the UK, we not only have fantastic online specialist shops but Amazon and Ebay stores are also great options for “exotic” stuff. This is the one I get on Amazon.

How to make Falooda at home

What is different in the South Asian Falooda recipe that I present to you today is the addition of milk and Holy Basil seeds. The basil seeds, also known as tukmaria and subja seeds (selasih in Malay and Indonesian – being multilingual has its advantages!), are soaked for a couple of hours before being used, to allow them to soften and take on a gelatinous texture which blends in well with the rest of the falooda ingredients.  At this stage, I’m afraid they resemble frog spawn! I’m not kidding! Basil seeds, you should be able to get at health stores, near the in trend chia seeds.

Similar desserts to Falooda can be found all over Asia, from the Singaporean/Malaysian Chendol to the Thai Nam Manglak, they all bear a slight kinship with with one another.

Rose Syrup Recipe (Falooda Syrup)

If you can’t find any rose syrup, make your own! Here on LinsFood, we have 2 recipes, one uses real roses, the other, is our Cheat’s Rose Syrup, using rose water, or pure essential oil of geranium/rose.

Homemade Rose Syrup with Fresh or Dried Edible Roses
An easy recipe for homemade rose syrup using fresh, edible rose petals or dried, edible roses. Perfect for those who love using edible flowers in the kitchen.
Previously published in 2014. Republished with updated content 2023.
Get the Recipe!
tall glass of homemade rose syrup with prosecco
Cheat’s Homemade Rose Syrup (Quick, Easy and No Roses Required!)
Quick and easy recipe on how to make rose syrup without rose petals! Cheat’s Homemade Rose Syrup recipe, using sugar, water and rose water.
Get the Recipe!
Cheat's homemade rose syrup

Optional Falooda Ingredients/Serving Ideas

Make some rose syrup jelly. Follow the instructions on your gelatine or agar agar packet with some diluted rose syrup. Pour the liquid rose syrup into your serving glasses and leave to set in the fridge. Then pour the falooda mix over when the milk is cold. That’s what you see in the images here.

Add the noodles, basil seeds and rose syrup into the hot milk and leave to cool. The noodles will absorb the flavours and taste even better.

Add some raisins to the hot milk and leave to plump up as the milk cools.

This needs a little advance prep as you need to cook the milk, then chill it, which will take about 4-6 hours, depending on the amount. The larger the serving, the longer it will take. I like to soak the seeds for a couple of hours too.

Falooda recipe

If you like the recipe, don’t forget to leave me a comment and that all important, 5-star rating! Thank you!

And if you make the recipe, share it on any platform and tag me @azlinbloor, and hashtag it #linsfood

Lin xx

How to make Falooda at home

Falooda Recipe

Falooda is a delicious dessert/drink of milk, sweet noodles and basil seeds, that is popular in South Asia, the Middle East and in parts of South East Asia.
4.99 from 229 votes
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Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Middle Eastern/South Asian
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 2
Calories: 263kcal
Author: Azlin Bloor

Equipment

  • saucepan
  • bowls as needed
  • ladle and spoons
  • 2 x 300ml (1 ¼ cup) serving glasses/wine glasses

Ingredients

  • 2 tsp holy basil seeds
  • 1 handful Falooda sev/vermicelli for Indian desserts
  • 500 ml fresh whole milk semi skimmed will work too
  • 2 Tbsp white sugar
  • 2 cardamoms split
  • 2 Tbsp rose syrup shop bought or homemade, click for the cheat's version
  • 2 scoops vanilla ice cream
  • crushed toasted pistachios or almonds
  • crushed, edible rose petals optional

Instructions

Prep the sweetened milk

  • Place the milk, sugar and cardamom in a small pan and bring to a boil, keeping a close eye on it, as it will suddenly rise.
  • Cook on a gentle simmer for 15 minutes.
  • Scoop the cardamom skin out and pour the milk into a fresh bowl/jug. The cardamom seeds will be at the bottom of the pan for easy removal. Place in the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours.

Basil Seeds (halfway through the milk chilling)

  • Soak the basil seeds at room temperature water for 2 hours.

Falooda Sev (the noodles)

  • To soften the sev/vermicelli, cook in simmering water for 5 minutes, drain and set aside.

ASSEMBLY – 2 methods:

    Add everything separately

    • Essentially, we'll divide everything up into 2 and add them to the serving glasses.
    • Place a tsp of seeds into each glass.
    • Divide the sev into the 2 glasses too.
    • Pour 1 tsp of rose syrup over the sev in each glass.
    • Gently, pour the milk into the glass, not quite to the top. Pouring the milk over the back of a tsp ensures as little disturbance to the syrup as possible.
    • Top with a scoop of ice cream.
    • Scatter some nuts and rose petals.

    Mixing everything together as in the picture

    • Add the noodles, the basil seeds and the rose syrup to the milk and stir well.
    • Divide the mix into 2 glasses.
    • Top with ice cream.
    • Scatter the nuts and rose petals all over the top.
    • Serve immediately.

    Notes

    Total time does not include chilling and soaking times.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 263kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 115mg | Potassium: 360mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 34g | Vitamin A: 409IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 293mg | Iron: 1mg
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    18 thoughts on “Falooda Recipe (a South Asian Dessert Drink)”

    1. Raouf Oderuth

      Mauritius, my Birthplace, has ‘ Alooda ‘ with similar ingredients, presumably adopted with the arrival of indentured Indian workers during the 1830’s/1840’s.

    2. Marie Ann Ashraf

      Thank you, Azlin. I don’t usually leave reviews but I wanted to tell you that I made your recipe yesterday, for lunch with friends. It was a big hit, and so far, the best falooda recipe I have tried. Merci!

    3. Gorgeous looking faloodas:)Faloodas are a common drink/dessert at out place. Easy to put together and full of flavors.. delicious:)

    4. Hi, I am Kenyan and we also have falooda! and we make it just like this!! Just need to add the rose petals and wow my family lol . I guess we borrowed it from the Indian Traders

      1. That’s just awesome, pleased to meet you! To my knowledge, there was quite an influx of Indians to Kenya during the late 19th century, so that would explain it! x

    5. This is not a recipe with which I am familiar. Love all of the ingredients, especially pistachios and it seems simple to make. We enjoy trying new recipes so this will go into the “to try” file!

    6. This is a beautiful dessert! I will have to see if I can find these ingredients in my area. Cardamon is one of my favorite spices!

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