Authentic falooda recipe from South Asia. Can be made with store-bought syrup or with homemade rose syrup (recipe included)! A delicious rose and vanilla flavored milkshake that is a summer favorite! EASY - This is a very easy recipe to make, even if you make the rose syrup from scratch! Adaptable to your taste and what you have available too.This recipe makes 4 drinks, and can be easily doubled if needed. The sweetness level will depend on your taste, so adjust the sweetness to your liking.
1cupstrawberry jellojello cut into 1 cm cubes (about 1 cup)
½cupcooked vermicelli (or sev)either roasted vermicelli OR rice vermicelli (gluten free option). Store it in a little cold water.
4scoopsvanilla ice cream about 1½ cups
Vanilla extractOPTIONAL, a few drops per drink if you're using store-bought syrup
Strawberry jello for falooda
1pktstrawberry jello3 oz / 85 g size
1 cup hot wateri.e. half the amount of water stated on the package
½cupcold waterOPTIONAL - substitute ¼ cup with ¼ cup rose water.
Falooda vermicelli or sev
⅓cupdry vermicellieither roasted vermicelli or rice vermicelli
water
Thick sweet milk for falooda
4cupsevaporated milk
¾cupcondensed milk (3 tbsp per 1 cup of evaporated milk)
Instructions
Falooda syrup
Place the sugar, corn syrup, and rose water in a saucepan. Stir to combine. Heat the mixture over medium heat to dissolve all the sugar. Swirl the pan to help dissolve the sugar. When the sugar has dissolved, let the syrup come to a simmer, and then let it simmer for about 1 minute.
400 g white sugar, 50 g corn syrup, 200 mL rose water
Make sure there are no undissolved sugar crystals on the sides of the saucepan as this will cause the syrup to re-crystallize as it cools down.
Once all the sugar is dissolved, stir in the vanilla, and add a few drops of red food coloring. Stir to mix in the color.
2 tsp vanilla extract, Red coloring
Pour the syrup into a bottle and let it cool completely before using.
Falooda recipe (for 4 drinks)
Use 4 tall high ball glasses, or old fashioned soda float glasses or hurricane glasses.
Cook the vermicelli in advance and let it cool down. Follow package instructions, or follow instructions provided below. Place the prepared vermicelli in a bowl with a little cold water to prevent them from sticking together.
Soak the tukmaria seeds in about ½ cup of water for about 15 minutes, until they form a "gel coating". Set aside.
4 tsp tukmaria seeds, ½ cup water
Unmold the jello and cut into small cubes. Keep in the fridge until needed.
1 cup strawberry jello
Into each glass, add a generous amount of jello (up to ¼ cup). Then add about 2 tbsp of cooked vermicelli, followed with the soaked tukmaria seeds.
1 cup strawberry jello, ½ cup cooked vermicelli (or sev), 4 tsp tukmaria seeds
Pour about 1 cup of chilled milk / or chilled thick sweet milk. Add the vanilla if you're using store-bought rose syrup.
Pour in 2 - 4 tbsp of the rose syrup (this should create a pink ombre look) per drink. The more you add, the sweeter the drink will be, so start with less and add more if you'd like the drink sweeter.
1 cup rose syrup (or homemade falooda syrup)
Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Optionally, top it with more jello and chopped nuts (if using).
4 scoops vanilla ice cream
Repeat for more drinks.
Serve with a spoon and a straw.
Strawberry jello
Empty the contents of the packet into a heat-proof bowl. Dissolve the contents in 1 cup of hot water. Stir to dissolve.
1 pkt strawberry jello, 1 cup hot water
To keep the jello chewy, you can set the jello with just 1 cup of water. Or you can add another ½ cup of water for a softer jello. Add some rose water if you like.
½ cup cold water
Pour the jello mixture into a large pan to create a shallow jello layer. I use an 8 or 9 inch cake pan. Let it cool down to room temperature and then chill to set in the fridge overnight.
Falooda vermicelli or sev
Bring a medium-sized pot of water to a boil.
water
Add the sev / vermicelli. Stir and bring the water back to a simmer.
⅓ cup dry vermicelli
Let the vermicelli cook until it becomes tender. With roasted vermicelli, this can take 5 minute or more. But with rice vermicelli this will be much faster.
Drain the vermicelli with a colander and run it through cold water to cool down the noodles.
If you're using vermicelli that is long, use a scissor or knife to cut it into smaller pieces.
Place the vermicelli in a bowl with a little cold water to prevent the noodles from sticking together.
Thick sweet milk for falooda
Place the evaporated milk and condensed milk in a jug. For every 1 cup of evaporated milk, add 3 tbsp of condensed milk to make thick sweet milk.
4 cups evaporated milk, ¾ cup condensed milk
Stir to dissolve and mix in the condesned milk.
Chill in the fridge until needed.
Notes
Vegan falooda or dairy free falooda
Substitute the milk and ice cream with vegan milk and vegan ice cream. Also use vegan jello instead of regular jello.
Nut free falooda
There are no nuts in this recipe, so it’s already nut-free! But avoid adding any chopped nuts or nut milks to make this nut free.
Egg free falooda
The only source of eggs in falooda is the ice cream. So just use egg free or vegan ice cream.
Refined sugar free falooda
Unfortunately, I haven’t made a sugar free falooda. However it’s possible. You cannot use store-bought rose syrup, and will need to make your own. You can make sweet milk by adding the sugar substitute of your choice to sweeten the milk. Then add rose water and food coloring to the milk to make the falooda drink.You can also make the rose syrup from scratch, but you will need to use a sugar substitute that is a 1:1 substitute for regular sugar like monk fruit sugar.