I always used to look forward to my trips to Mumbai to enjoy my all time favourite Badshah Falooda, which I felt was best served at Haji Ali or the kulfi served with pink rose syrup scented falooda at Moti Mahal. Maybe because of my fondness for the rose-flavoured kulfi and falooda, I took a fancy to Indonesian Es doger, which is a popular coconut-based dessert with rose-flavoured ice shavings and red tropical pearls. They could be called distant cousins.
We could do this dish both as a drink as well as a dessert. Let’s experiment with both the great recipes.
- 1 litre coconut milk made from 1 grated coconut
- 250 gm sugar
- 1/8 tsp red edible colour or rose syrup
- 1 packet gelatin
- 2 tender coconuts and 1/2 old coconut, finely shaved
- 150 gm of fermented cassava, cored and diced 1 cm
- 150 gm fermented black rice
- 100 ml sweetened condensed milk
- Boil milk, gelatin and sugar while stirring constantly till it boils
- Add colouring or rose syrup and stir well. Lift. Stir until cool.
- Store in the freezer until slightly frozen,
- Remove from freezer and beat with a mixer. Do this process 2-3 times till smooth. In the end, mix the shaved coconut and stir well.
- Put the fermented cassava and fermented black rice in serving glasses, add the frozen coconut milk mixture
- Pour sweetened condensed milk. Serve chilled
As the name suggests, it’s a dessert for the king and, of course, not to forget the queens. With a hint of vanilla and dash of rose, this sweetened chilled milk packed with crushed ice and dancing black basil seeds topped with falooda is my definition of liquid dessert
- 1 cup fine rice vermicelli
- 2 glass chilled milk
- 3/4 cup pistachios, shelled and skin removed
- 3/4 cup almonds, blanched and skin removed
- 4 tsp icing sugar
- 6 tbsp basil seeds (sabza)
- 12 tbsp rose syrup
- 4 scoop vanilla ice cream
- Boil vermicelli in water.When cooked, drain the water and let it cool.
- Keep aside a few almonds and pistachios, about 6-8 each, and cut into thin slivers. Keep aside to use as a garnish later.
- Put the chilled milk, pistachios, almonds and sugar in a blender and blend till smooth.
- Put the basil seeds in a bowl and pour enough water to cover them completely till they swell and are transparent and a small dot can be seen in the centre.Strain and set aside.
- To assemble the
- In each glass, put 1/4th of vermicelli and basil seeds
- Now pour in 1/4th chilled milk over the vermicelli and basil seeds
- Pour 1/4th of the rose syrup in each glass and mix well
- Add a scoop of ice cream to this and drizzle with some more rose syrup. Garnish with slivered almonds and pistachios
- You will need a straw and a long spoon to enjoy this cool and kingly dessert
Best Wine of the Planet Flows from the Corners of Spain
According to the latest international export figures, Spanish wine is the most popular on the planet. Spain exported a record 2.4 billion litres of Rioja, Ribera del Duero and other wines in 2015, significantly bettering second-placed France’s two billion litres, states an international daily. But not all vineyard owners in Spain are happy about this as their vintage wines fetch less than a third of the price of those exported by France. Experts point out that Spanish wine is often sold in bulk. The price per litre fell last year by 2.9 per cent, to €1.10. “The situation is frustrating, but we know what we have to do to catch up,” said Rafael del Rey, the head of the Spanish Wine Market Observatory.