Nuts & seeds · Seeds
Sweet basil seeds (sabja)
Tiny black sweet basil seeds that swell into jelly-coated pearls in water, for falooda, sharbats and lemonades.
Also called: sabja, basil seeds, tukmaria, tukmalanga, falooda seeds, sabja ginjalu
A kind of seeds
Photo: Marjeeva, via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
What it is
The seeds of sweet basil, sold as sabja or tukmaria. They are small, matte black and teardrop-shaped; soaked in water for 10–15 minutes, each grows a translucent, gelatinous coat. They look like chia seeds but are blacker and swell much faster, and are almost always soaked rather than eaten dry.
Ocimum basilicum (seeds)
How it’s used
- Soaked and layered in falooda
- Stirred into rose sharbat, nimbu pani and nannari drinks
- Added to milkshakes and kulfi desserts
- Topping for fruit bowls and puddings
Characteristics
- Taste
- Almost neutral, faintly herbal.
- Texture
- Slippery gel outside with a slight crunch at the centre.
- Appearance
- Dry: tiny black seeds. Soaked: grey-white blobs with a black dot.
- When cooked
- Absorbs many times its weight in water; clumps if not stirred as it soaks.
- Sold as
- whole
- Cooking uses
- Usually eaten raw
- Common in
- Indian, Pakistani, Thai, Vietnamese, Iranian
Storage
Cool, dry and dark. Keep dry seeds in an airtight jar; they keep for a long time. Refrigerate soaked seeds and use within a day or two.
Diet, allergens and safety
No major allergens in typical versions.
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
- Egg-free
- Gluten-free
- Nut-free
- Soy-free
- Caffeine-free
- Always soak before eating; dry seeds swell quickly and can be a choking risk, especially for children.
Nutrition per 100 g
- Energy
- 486 kcal
- Protein
- 16.54 g
- Carbohydrate
- 42.12 g
- Fat
- 30.74 g
- Fibre
- 34.4 g
- Sugars
- — g
USDA FoodData Central: Seeds, chia seeds, dried (a close stand-in).
Substitutes
Optional — what works if you don’t have it, and how it changes the dish.
- Chia seeds — Soak for at least 20–30 minutes; texture is similar but less slippery.
Related ingredients
Recipes with sweet basil seeds (sabja)
Kulukki sarbath
Indian · 20 min · 112 kcal · Vegan
Rose falooda
Indian · 35 min · 480 kcal · VegetarianRose milk
Indian · 1 h 8 min · 260 kcal · Vegetarian
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