By Chef Afrand Nikoukar
One of the oldest Persian recipes and perhaps the first frozen dessert in history is the Iranian “Faloodeh” (a Persian granita threaded with rice noodles spiked with rose water and lime).
This delightful and refreshing dessert originates from the former capital of Iran in the city of Shiraz.
In this episode of #FarhangFlavor Farhang Foundation visits Chef Afrand Nikoukar who splits his time between Berlin, Germany, and Napa Valley and Orange County, USA.
Watch Video as Chef Afrand shares his homemade recipe for this delicious and fragrant summer delight, which was one of his childhood favorite treats.
“Visiting Iran during the Summer time meant lots of extremely hot days, but it also meant lots of “sharbat” from my grandmother and my aunt taking me down the street to get my favorite frozen treat, “Faloodeh.” “Faloodeh ” is best translated to a rosewater granita with thin rice noodles, traditionally topped with lime juice, and oftentimes with fruit jams or pistachios. Besides it being extremely simple to make and ridiculously refreshing on warm days, it has a special place in my heart as it also reminds me of all the times my mom would make me a bowl on those sweltering days.
In this recipe I will be showing you how to make a quick and easy rice noodle using rice starch and a pasta extruder, however you can substitute them with store bought vermicelli noodles as well. I will also be using an ice cream churner to get a softer and smoother texture, if you do not have one you can still make the recipe by freezing the mixture in a container and stirring every few hours.” – Afrand Nikoukar
Recipe
Faloodeh Base:
- 3 Cups Water
- 1 Cup Granulated White Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Iranian Rose Water
- 1 Tablespoon Glucose
- 2 Tablespoon Iranian Rose Petals
- Faloodeh Noodles:
- 150 grams rice starch
- 450 grams water
- 12 grams sugar
- 6 grams rose water (or essence of choice)
Faloodeh Base Method:
-Combine water, sugar, and glucose in a pot and bring to a simmer to just dissolve the sugar and mix in the glucose. We do not want to bring the mixture to a boil, we are just trying to get the ingredients homogenized.
-Turn off the heat and add the rose petals, and let it steep with the warm liquid
-Add the rose water (I like to add the rose water at the end to keep it as aromatic as possible, cooking off the rose water tends to cook off the aroma)
-Cool your liquid in the refrigerator 2 hours minimum up to overnight. The colder it is the faster it will freeze.
Faloodeh Noodles Method:
-Combine the rice starch, water, rose water, and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk well until smooth. You want to eliminate any lumps of starch now before cooking.
-Transfer your whisked batter into a nonstick pot and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally. The goal is to create a thick dough like paste.
-Transfer your rice dough into a bowl and cool down
-Once your dough is firm and cool using a thin pasta extruder, press out noodles into a cold ice water bath. If your ice melts, add more. You need your water to be ice cold for the noodles to firm up. Place noodles and the ice water bath in the fridge to firm up further for a few hours.
Making the Faloodeh:
-Strain out the roses from your cooled mix and transfer mix into your ice cream machine. Let churn for 20 minutes or until it just sets
-As your mixture starts to solidify, strain some of your rice noodles out and add them to the mixture. If you are using store bought vermicelli noodles add the cooked and cooled noodles now.
-Allow to churn for a few more minutes until mixed together and transfer to containers and place in the freezer to set a little longer. Faloodeh is ready to serve and eat, if you want the mixture firmer, freeze for longer.
Serving the Faloodeh:
I love topping my Faloodeh with tart ingredients to bring balance to the sweetness of the rose water syrup. In this video I topped mine with lots of fresh lime juice, sour cherry syrup from my mom’s garden, and some local mulberries from the Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano. In Iran it is also often eaten alongside “Bastani Sonati” (aka traditional Persian ice cream), so our Faloodeh today is served alongside an ice cream sandwich of freshly churned saffron and pistachio ice cream.
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