Rose milkshake

Name: Rose milkshake
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: Serves 8–10
Cuisine: Pakistani
Ingredients: 10 g/⅓ oz gum – Arabic gum, finely crushed then dissolved in hot water and cooled; 10 g/⅓ oz gum – Arabic gum, finely crushed then dissolved in hot water and cooled; 1 litre/1¾ pints/4 cups water; 250 g/9 oz/1¼ cups caster (superfine) sugar; 250 ml/9 fl oz/1 cup whole milk; 1 tbsp basil seeds, soaked for 15 minutes; 2–4 drops red natural food colour; 2–3 tbsp Rooh Afza-style syrup; ½ tsp crushed cardamom seeds; 3–4 tsp rose water; ½ tsp crushed aniseed; 1 cm/½-inch cinnamon stick

Preparation info

Serves
8–10

Difficulty
Easy
Ready in
1 hr 5

Appears in

Summers Under the Tamarind Tree

By Sumayya Usmani

Published 2016

About

Children growing up in Pakistan were often promised a treat of rooh afza dooth – milk mixed with a rose, herb and spice syrup which can be bought in almost all Asian stores. You can use the store-bought syrup if you can find it, but homemade rose syrup makes a refreshing alternative.

Ingredients

For the rooh afza-style syrup

makes about 1 litre/1¾ pints/4 cups

1 litre/1¾ pints/4 cups water

Asia
Pakistan
Drinks
Gluten-free
Vegetarian
Summer

Method

To make the rooh afza-style syrup, bring the water with the sugar and add the dissolved gum, aniseed, cinnamon and cardamom to the boil in a saucepan, then turn off the heat. Add the rose water and food colour and allow to cool.

Strain the mixture through a sieve and pour into a sterilised bottle. Store in the fridge and use within 7 days.

To make the milk, add 3 tablespoons of