Don’t you just love the feeling you get when you’re in a restaurant and your waiter or waitress appears from the kitchen with your order? And also hate it when you think it’s yours but it’s really for the table next to you?

I guess it just affirms that we’re all big kids just waiting to be fed at heart.

When I think of Falooda I think of my dad and the big smile that emerges on his face whenever he rumbles the fact there’s something sweet on the menu. We’re two peas in a pod.

When I was little he used to take the whole family to a favourite restaurant in either Leicester or Bradford on a Sunday afternoon and we’d have the most memorable family meals. Mum would order something classy and simple, Dad would get the thali and my brother and I would squabble over whether they put coriander in the daal or not.

Regardless of what Ravi and I were arguing about, Dad would always diffuse the situation by asking me the golden question. That cheeky smile would spread across his face and he’d say one word, ‘Falooda?’

And that was all it took. I’d be content without coriander in the daal and no samosa starter because I knew I was getting to drink what is practically a dessert with my main meal. Happy days.

What the fudge is Falooda, I hear you ask?

A rose-flavoured milkshake with rice noodles, basil seeds, milk jelly diamonds and a couple of scoops of ice cream.

If you love ice cream sundaes, this will be your kryptonite.

I’ve been a bit playful with my version and tweaked what is a very classic Indian Falooda into what can only be described as a bloody delicious deviation. Meet the Stawberry Cheesecake Falooda – a hybrid between two separate ends of the world. A bit like me, I suppose.

Imagine this; all the gorgeousness of classic Falooda with the fruitiness of strawberries to compliment the delicate rose flavour, a hint of malt from the biscuits, the creaminess of light Italian mascarpone cheese and some strawberry cheesecake ice cream to top it all off.

This one’s all for you, Pops. Don’t tell Mum.

Strawberry Cheesecake Falooda
(Serves 2)

Ingredients for the milk jelly:

240ml milk
5g agar agar/China grass strands, snipped into small pieces
3 tablespoons sugar
200ml warm water
Few drops pink food colour

Method:

1. Soak the agar agar in warm water for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, gently bring the milk to the boil. Squeeze the agar agar to remove any water and mix it into the boiling milk. Stir continuously until completely dissolved. Add the sugar and keep on stirring for a few minutes.

2. Lightly grease a steel plate and pour in the milk. Allow to cool to room temperature, then place into the fridge until set. When set, cut the jelly into diamond shapes. Refrigerate until needed.

Ingredients for the rest of the Falooda:

280ml milk
50ml rose syrup
4 large strawberries
1 tablespoon mascarpone cheese

2 Rich Tea-style biscuits, crushed
1 tablespoon takmaria (basil seeds), soaked in cold water for 20 minutes (you can get these in South Asian grocery shops or online)
60g rice noodles, cooked according to packet instructions, then soaked in 1 tablespoon rose syrup

4 scoops strawberry cheesecake ice cream
2 strawberries to garnish

Method:

1. Place the milk, rose syrup, strawberries and mascarpone cheese in a blender and blitz until smooth. Pour into a jug, cover, then chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

2. Grab yourself two ice cream sundae glasses or other tall glassware. Divide the takmaria and noodles between the glasses, then add a few pieces of milk jelly and the crushed biscuits. Pour over the strawberry and rose milkshake, leaving some room for the ice cream.

3. Top with two scoops of strawberry cheesecake ice cream and garnish with a sliced strawberry. You’ll need a spoon and a straw, too!

Serves as a dessert – or if you’re a bit like me, as a drink on the side of a spicy meal.

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One of my most magical childhood memories is sitting in the back seat of my parents’ red VW Golf during the mid-nineties, slowly peeling back the red-stained paper from a little bundle of ‘Special Meetha Paan’: Areca nuts, fennel seeds, shredded coconut and rose paste, smothered in a ‘secret’ syrup, then tightly wrapped in a peppery betel leaf.

My last trip to everyone’s favourite paan house got me thinking; I was missing a trick. I’ve always loved the fresh flavours, but all that chewing can be terribly hard work. Then suddenly it dawned on me, why had I never made my own Paan Ice Cream?

It’s swelteringly hot over here (in comparison to last week’s pesky rain) and so I let myself go, forgot the diet for an evening and decided to finally give it a go. The first batch curdled on me because the milk I had steeped betel leaves in was too hot to add to the cold cream and custard. Boo, hiss. As this was not the time nor place for paneer, I binned it and started again.

The second batch was perfect; it had the right balance of sweet, aromatic and peppery. Sounds like my kind of ice cream.

Serve Paan Ice Cream as a refreshing after-dinner treat and an alternative to mints. It’s the most wonderful palate cleanser too, so a little bit between a starter and main course would go down a treat.

Here’s my recipe for Paan Ice Cream.
 

For more information on the history of paan, see my blog post for Food Network UK.

Want brand new recipes before anyone else? Follow me on Twitter and Facebook for fresh recipes straight from the kitchen, ask me cooking questions, see what I’m munching my way through during the week or just tweet to say hello.

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Firstly, I’d like to apologise to the French for this recipe. I can only imagine the kind of chaos an eggless banana and cardamom crème brûlée would cause. It’s not even the cool sort of chaos.

I’ve been working on this recipe for eggless crème brûlée for a while now and I think it’s about time I unveiled it before your hungry eyes. You’re probably thinking that this dish is notorious for being laced with eggs and that I’m a total nutcase for thinking otherwise. But trust me… It can be made beautifully without. Otherwise I wouldn’t be typing this right now.

Eggs add a certain richness to crème brûlée which I reinterpreted as ‘banana’. Cute. I mean that I replaced the eggs with pureed banana which adds a velvety texture to the custard, along with a subtle banana flavour. I added cornflour to act as a setting agent just as eggs help set the custard in a usual crème brûlée. So you don’t have to worry about your custard turning into scrambled eggs when making the custard for this dessert, due to the lack of… uhh… eggs.

Oh and surprise! Guess what? This is a 2 in 1 dessert, meaning you can make two desserts with the exact same custard base. Gripping, I know. So the ‘little extra’ refers to an alternative destiny for the creamy banana and cardamom custard. That is a recipe for Eggless Banana and Cardamom Ice Cream. Warning: This ice cream is immensely creamy. Are you sure your tastebuds can handle this kinda creamy? I’m not sure they can.

Eggless Banana and Cardamom Crème Brûlée
(makes 5-6)

Ingredients

600ml double cream
200ml whole milk
2½-3½ tbsps cornflour
250g banana, peeled and sliced
1 vanilla pod, scraped of its seeds (keep the pod)
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g caster sugar (plus more for caramelising)
¼ tsp cardamom powder
Yellow food colour (optional)

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 120 degrees Celsius.

2. Place the milk, cornflour and banana slices in a blender and pulse until pureed.

3. In a large saucepan heat on a very low flame the double cream, banana puree, sugar, vanilla extract and the vanilla seeds along with the whole pod. Gently whisk this from time to time.

4. Once the mixture begins to thicken, whisk it more often to ensure it doesn’t settle at the bottom. Simmer gently until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

5. Remove from the heat and add take out the whole vanilla pod (wash it and dry it and add it to a jar of sugar, et voila… Vanilla sugar!) Add the cardamom powder and food colouring if using and mix thoroughly.

6. Boil the kettle. Not for a cuppa chai. For the bain marie (water bath).

7. Pour the mixture into ramekins about 2/3 of the way up.

8. Put the ramekins in a large roasting tray with high sides and place the tray in an oven. Pull the oven rack out and pour the boiled water into the tray (not into the ramekins) until it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

9. Bake for around 45 minutes until the custards are just set but a little wobbly in the middle. Did I just say ‘wobbly’?

10. Remove the ramekins from the oven and take them out of the roasting tray (be very careful because they will be hot). If you’re making these ahead of time, at this point you can cover these and refrigerate them (and follow step 11 when you’re ready to serve). If you want to eat them straight away then follow step 11 now.

11. Top the custards with 1 level tsp of caster sugar and place them under the grill until they caramelise. If you’ve got a blowtorch, use it. Sadly I’m not equipped with one. Lame.

12. Carefully remove from the grill and serve hot.

Recipe 2: Eggless Banana and Cardamom Ice Cream

Ingredients

600ml double cream
200ml whole milk
3 ½ tbsp cornflour
250g banana, peeled and sliced
1 vanilla pod, scraped of its seeds (keep the pod)
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g caster sugar (plus more for caramelising)
¼ tsp cardamom powder
Yellow food colour (optional)

Method

1. Place the milk, cornflour and banana slices in a blender and pulse until pureed.

2. In a large saucepan heat on a very low flame the double cream, banana puree, sugar, vanilla extract and the vanilla seeds along with the whole pod. Gently whisk this from time to time.

3. Once the mixture begins to thicken, whisk it more often to ensure it doesn’t settle at the bottom. Simmer gently until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

4. Remove from the heat and add take out the whole vanilla pod (wash it and dry it and add it to a jar of sugar, et voila… Vanilla sugar!) Add the cardamom powder and food colouring if using and mix thoroughly.

5. Allow the mixture to cool and place it in a freezer-friendly container. Cover this with a lid and place in the freezer.

6. Every 30 minutes for the first two hours, remove the container from the freezer and whisk to break up any ice crystals that may have formed. After two hours leave the ice cream for around 3-4 hours for it to freeze completely.

Okay everyone, I give you permission to go bananas and have two desserts today!

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