Finally, the much-awaited festival of Eid is here. Eid-ul-Fitr occurs after a period of 30 days of fasting. The holy month of Ramadan is very auspicious for Muslims across the globe. Any festive celebration in the country is incomplete without a lavish feast and lots of sweets. This is because sweet foods tend to generate happy hormones in our body and keep our spirits up. On the special occasion of Eid, you would find most Muslim households brimming with aromas of sevaiyaan, kebabs, biryani and much more. Sevaiyaan is an essential part of this Eid because it is the Meethi Eid. For the unversed, sevaiyaan is much like kheer, except that it is made with vermicelli rather than rice.
Another very intrinsic dessert to the festive eats is falooda. Call it falooda, faloodeh or whatever you like, the fact remains that this chilled dessert never fails to impress anyone. Did you know that the falooda that you slurp with kulfi (kulfi falooda) is actually a Persian invention? Yes, it’s true. While we have adapted falooda to our tastes and liking, its roots still lie in the Iranian faloodeh. During Navroz, Iranians as well as the Parsis (who are their descendants who settled in India), falooda is the most important part of the feast.
The original faloodeh is a combination of vermicelli noodles, sugar syrup, milk and rose essence. This decadent sweet travelled to India with Jehangir, one of the Mughal emperors who ruled India. His tryst with falooda happened on his quest to conquer a princely state of Iran. That’s when he was left enamoured by the deliciousness of this dessert and well, the rest is history. The interesting bit is that what was actually a sweet drink, associated with the Persian festival, acquired different flavours and forms over the course of time.
You’d find a variety of faloodas in India, from rose to saffron-scented ones. They are called by different names across the globe. Take the halo halo from Phillipines for instance, or the Cendol from Malaysia. Often times, falooda is paired with ice cream and in case of India, with kulfi. Now that Eid is right here, we can’t let you go away without a rose-flavoured falooda.
To prepare this rose falooda, all you need to do is prepare the falooda vermicelli or noodles. For this, take some cornflour with water in a bowl and mix well. This mixture is boiled over low-flame and then put into a falooda noodles making machine till it becomes translucent. The noodles are poured out of the machine and then begins the task of assembling the falooda together. In a funnel-shaped glass, pour these noodles, some soaked basil seeds and a tinge of rose syrup. To this, add milk carefully through the ends of the glass. Pop in some ice cubes and top it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Your rose-flavoured falooda is ready to be devoured.
Want to try and make it this Eid? Here’s a detailed recipe for you.