Eve eats: Pistachio faluda dessert

Let’s make a super easy and fun faluda. Faluda is a dessert made out of milk, sugar, flavouring and the key ingredient, Agar Agar, also known as China grass. Agar Agar is a vegetarian substitute for gelatin. It is a jelly-like substance, obtained from algae. Agar is mostly used as an ingredient in desserts but can be used as a laxative as well as an appetite suppressant.

It is also useful as a thickener for soups and in fruit preserves and ice cream. It is readily available in many forms and textures - powder form, stick form, flavored or plain. It is available at most local supermarkets and food stores. Today we use pistachio-flavoured Agar Agar powder to make a cooling chilled dessert that is popular at the Coast for suhur (the late night meal before starting the Ramadhan fast).

What you’ll need:

10g Agar Agar Powder (pistachio flavour)

1 liter milk

8 tablespoon of sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

50g pistachios (roasted)

100g Whipped cream for garnish  

What to do:

Using a tablespoon, dilute the pistachio-flavoured Agar Agar powder with about 100ml of milk. Mix well to ensure there are no lumps.

In a pot/sufuria over medium heat, add in milk and then diluted Agar Agar.

Using a whisk or spatula, mix well until combined. Add in vanilla essence and sugar then bring to a boil. Once boiled, keep it aside for about 5 minutes.

Line up about 4-5 glass dessert glasses or bowls. Crush the pistachios and sprinkle them into the bottom of the glasses.

Slowly pour in the boiled Agar Agar mixture, let it cool at room temperature for 15 minutes then place in the fridge for about an hour or so to chill.

Once the mixture is cold enough and has firmed up, pipe some whipped cream on the centre of the dessert.

Sprinkle some extra pistachios to garnish. Serve the faluda dessert at this point or pop it in the fridge for a cooler treat.