Rose Milkshake, sweet and fragrant

Introduction

This rose milkshake is my falooda inspired drink, especially made with Ramadan in mind. The addition of rooh afza provides a distinctive floral flavour to the milkshake, which sets it apart from other drinks. I adore the sweetness of rose petals with the vanilla flavours, it’s works beautifully together.

Rose milkshake is served chilled as with other milkshakes. It’s the perfect refreshing drink to have on a hot day. The pale pink hue of rose syrup milkshake looks gorgeous. Especially when mixed together with the milk and ice cream in this recipe. The blitzing in the food processor gives the milkshake a lovely frothy texture. You can add in ice cubes to this recipe too.

Tips for this recipe

I love that this milkshake is so quick and easy to make. It only requires a few basic ingredients and minimal preparation time. This makes it a great option for Ramadan when preparing your meal, your rooh afzah milkshake is not going to zap a lot of time at all. So it’s great to make on those days you are feeling tired, and want a lovely iftari treat to look forward to.

You can adapt the recipe to your taste. Adjusting the nuts used, for example almonds and cashew nuts would also all work well in this recipe. You could also change the ice cream you use. You can not go wrong with vanilla ice cream. However you could also add in pistachio flavour ice cream to give it more of a nutty twist. I do love nuts in desserts. I have used malai kulfi ice cream in my recipe, this gives it a very falooda inspired flavour.

My children love having rooh afza in Ramadan, they have grown up having it as part of the Pakistani cultural traditions. Now they ask for this milkshake, another thing for them to look forward to in Ramadan!

Rooh Afza, what is it?

This milkshake recipe consists of rooh afza. rooh afza is a popular non-alcoholic concentrated syrup. It is made from a blend of natural ingredients, including extracts of rose petals, coriander seeds, orange peel, chicory roots, and various other herbs and fruits.

Traditionally, rooh afza is typically mixed with water or milk to make a refreshing beverage. In Pakistan we called this “sharbat”. It can also be used in South Asian desserts. For example, falooda (a popular South Asian dessert), ice cream, milkshakes, and cocktails. Some people also use it as a topping for fruit salads or yogurt.

As a child, I first had rooh afza in falooda, I remember loving this sweet fragrant rose taste, it really elevated a dessert to a different level. When we would eat out in Ramadan, at the Muslim owned restaurants, they would often put on a free of charge buffet for all customers to enjoy, even those non fasting customers. Sharbat was always on the table, my sister and I would grab a couple of glasses to break out fast. The sharbat, never lasted long!

Sharbat started being served at weddings as a sweet drink for people to celebrate with after the nikah (religious wedding ceremony for Muslims). This was served at my wedding. My aunty made enough for our three hundred plus guests!

Conclusion

This milkshake is such a treat to make for yourself and the family. Rooh afza mixed with milk is a classic Pakistani drink, especially in Ramadan. My children adore rooh afza, we have it every Ramadan mixed with milk. I was keen to make sure the children didn’t miss out on this great Pakistani tradition. The children have grown up calling it pink milk! I have now elevated our “pink milk” Ramadan drink to a milkshake in this recipe.

For the children, a milkshake always has whipped cream on top (you can miss this off if you prefer), which they love to either mix in to their tall glass of milkshake or eat with a spoon! Whatever keeps them happy I say.

As I mentioned earlier, you can switch the kulfi for regular vanilla ice cream or pistachio ice cream. The cardamom pods help to tone down the sweetness of the rooh afza and adds depth to taste of the milkshake. The rose petals give the final extra luscious finishing touch to the milkshake. This really is a lovely drink to give your guests when hosting an iftar dinner or just a standard dinner party. What’s not to love! Everyone’s eyes light up when they see it. Enjoy it with chaat , kebabs and pilau, the perfect iftar meal.

See my video on Instagram or TikTok to see how to make this dish!

INGREDIENTS FOR ROSE MILKSHAKE

Serves 4

Time: 5 minutes

• 4 scoops malai kulfi icecream you can substitute this for vanilla ice-cream
• 8 tbsp of rose syrup
• 1000 ml milk
• 0.5 tsp cardamom powder I crack 8-9 cardamoms, take out the black seeds and grind them with a mortar and pestle. You can buy the powder instead.
• whipped cream for finishing
• 0.5 tbsp of finely chopped pistachios
• edible rose petals for garnish, optional

INSTRUCTIONS 

• Add the ice-cream, rose syrup, milk and cardamom powder to a blender and blitz.
• Pour into your glasses, top with the whipped cream, pistachios, edible rose petal and serve immediately.