I started this recipe in the form of Applesauce Cake from a Martha Stewart cookbook (that’s the only way I can stand her – on paper) – but they’re oh so much more cute as cupcakes with DL’s Dulce de Leche swirled on top.
On a summer day in Pakistan, things move at a leisurely pace. Offices are closed from noon to four o’clock and everything has to get done early in the morning or late at night. Lunch is a few chapattis with a spicy saalan, followed by a long nap. It’s just too hot to do anything else.
This beautiful ruby red syrup, named “the nurturer of the soul,” is made from roses and kewra, a Pandanus flower extract. Rooh Afza is the star of many summer treats. It provides a beautiful pink contrast when drizzled over top of Kulfi, a creamy-white cardamom ice cream, or mixed in with the faloodah (vermicelli noodles), or tukhmalanga (basil seeds) that top the kulfi. I can imagine someone more creative and less lazy than me using this syrup in various ways at a Valentine’s Day party or something equally as cute. (Speaking of cute, look at the Rooh Afza bottlecap to the left. Aww.)
Especially during the loadshedding hours, where power is cut off in sectors of the cities to save the system from overload, everyone sits around with woven reed pankhiyaan, or “little fans” (or, as my Farat Phuppo calls them, “hand AC’s”) drinking something cold. My favorite of these cooling summer drinks is ice-cold water sweetened with Rooh Afza.
Summer Rooh Afza
I love the taste of this syrup, so I prefer a higher proportion of syrup to water than other people may. This drink is very dependent on personal taste, and this is how I like it.
1 tbs. Rooh Afza
1 cup cold water
Ice
Pour the Rooh Afza into a shaker or pyrex glass measuring cup. Pour the cold water on top of it and stir/whisk/mix very well until the syrup is completely dissolved in the water. Fill a glass with ice and pour the Rooh Afza water on top. (Some people also add fresh lemon juice.) Enjoy!
And, as befits a culture influenced by Persians, Arabs, and Mughals, an eminent poet also wrote a poem about Rooh Afza.
‘If you look at its colour, it enchants your heart. If you taste it, you find its flavour enlivening. In fragrance it excels other flowers. In efficacy it is quite an elixir. Its refreshing and invigorating effect is beyond reckoning. A sharbat like Rooh Afza has never been produced, nor ever shall be.’ — Sa’il Dehlavi
Ramadan Rooh Afza
There’s another version of Rooh Afza that is a particular treat in Ramadan. Instead of water, the syrup is mixed with cold milk and served with spicy samosas and pakoras at Iftar, after the day’s fast. It’s probably not smart to eat spicy food after you’ve had nothing in your stomach all day, but try telling a Pakistani to eat bland food. We’ve been known to carry around bottles of Tabasco in our purses. So, the sweetness and softness of the milk gives both quick energy and a bit of cushion against the savory-spicy food. I use the same proportion of milk to Rooh Afza as with the Summer Rooh Afza.
More information about Rooh Afza
Rooh Afza comes in a bottle and can be found at South Asian grocery stores. Experiment with it as an accent to desserts, drinks, or anything you can think of, and let me know how it turns out!
On the history and cultural effects of Rooh Afza, from Hamdard Laboratories
RoohAfza.com, featuring I *heart* Rooh Afza tshirts and mugs
100th Anniversary of Rooh Afza (created in 1907 by Hakeem Abdul Majeed)
This is a beautiful summer dessert when fresh citrus and berries are in season. For some reason I wanted it to be greener (it turned out yellow-green, which i suppose is because of the eggs), but the taste made up for the color. I think the zest was supposed to be minced finer, but even though I could see strips of zest, it still tasted just fine. In fact, I think i like being able to see that there was zest in it. It is quite tart, so serve each slice with big dollops of whipped cream and sliced strawberries.
This curd recipe was really easy, as it did not require a double boiler. I was apprehensive about pouring the curd mixture directly into a pan, but it turned out just fine!
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From my old, brown-paged, batter-stained Joy of Cooking, vol. 2: Appetizers, Desserts, and Baked Goods. It needed a little adjustment, but it was quite good – even though I don’t usually like orange flavors in desserts. I’m sure you can make it with lemon zest instead. It’s very good spread with ricotta cheese and drizzled with honey.
By the way, zest can be frozen. If you’ve got a bag of lemons to make lemonade, or if you’re peeling an orange to eat – zest it, then freeze it in a little ziploc bag, and juice a little bit of the fruit into the bag. You can keep it on hand and be ready to bake or make curd or add it to seafood.
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This brownie recipe by Angie on Allrecipes.com is excellent. They don’t puff up like the box mixes do, but they’re a deliciously soft, dense, and chocolaty brownie. The last time I made them with the intention to photograph/publish, Ameir’s friends were over and the finished product was gone before I could take a picture. Angie also has a frosting recipe to go with it, but they’re great without as well.
My family, being of the classic Desi/Arab mentality, likes to buy in bulk. Which means that at the end of a week, we’ll have at least 5 almost too-ripe bananas that must be used. Solution: grab a wooden spoon, a big bowl, and start mushing.
This is my absolute favorite banana bread recipe. The basic recipe is from Joy of Cooking, but I change things around to make it my own. It’s a mix of the basic + improv of whatever I find at home that I think would be nice in it. Actually, come to think of it, the bread often turns out more like cake because I put a little more sugar and definitely more bananas than the recipe calls for. It comes out excellent every time, Alhamdulillah
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After making dulce de leche for the first time, I was entranced by its gooey caramel goodness. I needed to find something else to do with it. Behold. Beautiful deliciousness.
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This is so easy – I really was surprised. I let this cook in the oven while I was running around finishing dinner, getting ready, and cleaning up before some friends came over for dinner. It comes out tasting like a creamy caramel.
Dulce de Leche
Recipe from David Lebovitz’s site
Ingredients and materials
- Pie plate
- Larger roasting pan that pie plate will fit into
- Can of sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
- Hot water
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Recipe taken from Smitten Kitchen, who got it from the New York Times. It was originally for a Clementine Clafoutis but she said that turned out horribly and suggested using cherries. I made two little ones instead of one big one. Clafoutis is a custardy-soft cake type dessert and the cherries work well with the custard. It was a little bit too “eggy” for me, so I might add more sugar and vanilla next time.
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I don’t like raw carrots. I just can’t eat them. Ameir and my mom say I should because they’re good for my eyes and stuff….but….they just taste like crunch when you eat them raw; there’s no real flavor. Sooooo I use them for other things – roasting, soups, and now – muffins!
This is a great recipe for relatively healthy, very moist and tasty muffins. I got the recipe here, a Ms. Elaine Cooley’s recipe on Allrecipes.com – it was actually pretty great the way it was; I didn’t have to make many changes other than upping the sugar and cinnamon. The “bran” part comes from Raisin Bran cereal. I was surprised when I read the recipe, but trust me, the flakes just melt into the batter and you can’t even tell they’re there! If you’re using plain bran flakes, make sure to add raisins separately – I even thought about adding more here but I didn’t have any. Definitely a great way to use up the bran cereal that you buy to be healthy but never actually eat.
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