Soon after watching a NPR video highlighting a business in DC selling faluda with made up ingredients, I got agitated and decided to make some at home the way I remember it. I found this recipe, which is pretty close to what we used to get back home in Delhi. I have listed instructions below in fewer words and more pictures, and added a little bit of my own spin to it. Try it, and tell me what you think!
This was one of my favorite road side desserts growing up.
Items you need:
- Milk (like quarter of a gallon maybe?)
- Brown bread (4 slices)
- Rice Noodles
- Sugar (depends on how much you like it)
- Half & Half (maybe a couple of tablespoons)
- Nuts (Almonds, Cashews, Pistachios)
- Cardamom (I used 8-10 pods)
Now that you have everything, do three things at the same time. Yes, THREE. (multitasking FTW!)
- Take a pan full of water and bring it to a boil. Add a little bit of oil to it, and then dump your rice noodles in it. Let them be in there for 4-5 minutes or until they soften. Once soft, drain the water, and keep the noodles aside. (preferably refrigerate it)
Also, take milk in another pan and bring it to a boil. Make sure to heat milk on a slower flame.
While that’s happening, start chopping DEEZ NUTS into tiny slivers. This is a pretty labor intensive and monotonous task so make sure you don’t get bored doing this.
Before:
After:
Also, peel the cardamom pods and grind the seeds inside into a fine, powdery form. I ground them in a small coffee blender I have.
Before:
After:
While you are at it, take the bread and grind it in the coffee blender too (or just shred it into really small pieces with your BARE HANDS, like a savage beast!).
While you were doing all this, your milk may have come to a boil. Add the bread crumbs, sugar, and cardamom, and simmer it for like 10 minutes. Keep stirring though, otherwise the bread crumbs stick to the bottom and the pan becomes a big pain in the ass while washing. Even if your forearm hurts from all the stirring, keep going, mofo!
After 10 minutes, take it off the stove and refrigerate it for 3-4 hours, which, to me, is like eternity.
Anyway, after those many hours, take a glass, throw some rice noodles into it first (fill less than half of it), pour the sweet, delicious, milk on top of it (which you’ll notice is now very thick after being in the fridge for so long), and garnish with DOZE NUTS you chopped earlier.
Enjoy!!
