Basil seeds

Surprise
Originally uploaded by xkg

We seriously had no idea what this drink was when we picked it off the menu of a Thai restaurant. We went to Ikea on a Sunday afternoon, and of course the cafe was full of screaming children and their parents. Our solution was to hike off to the nearest mall--plenty of those to choose from. We were hungry and just wanted to eat.

When this drink arrived, A and I were curious what the floating dark bits were. They were gelatinous but had a crunch to it. I thought at first they were dragonfruit seeds. We just drank all of it without a thought and went back to the monster's lair.

Today, just found out that those tiny bits were actually Thai basil seeds, and were frequently used in drinks especially in South Asia. In some places it's called falooda.



Other websites refer to it as nam manglak.



Although I have to say that the one we had is closer to falooda instead of nam manglak. Pretty interesting drink though. Makes me think of tadpoles.