Hi y’all! So after my 4th of July break when I was just finishing up med school stuff and watching fireworks with my parents, I searched up Internet recipes that used a concentrated syrup from India and Pakistan called Rooh Afza. It’s red in color and used to make all sorts of drinks and snacks. It comes in a bottle that looks something like this:
While one might think it looks like strawberry syrup and, thus, should taste like strawberries….it doesn’t. At all. It’s an sweet amalgam of herbs, fruits, veggies, and flowers (there’s rose in there, and I love anything that has some rose flavoring in it). It’s normally served with cold water or cold milk to refresh oneself during the summer. I had it a couple times as a kid, both in the states when my parents got it from the Indian store and in India with a few of my relatives. It’s been a few years since I’ve had it honestly, but I tried it again when I went to my grandmother’s place in May and she offered me a glass of milk with Rooh Afza mixed in it Sadly, I had no time to buy myself a bottle of the stuff (nor would it have been allowed through airport security….probably). The craving I had for it before not only came back, but lasted all the way until I came back to the U.S. for WAGSFP.
Fortunately for me, I went to North Campus last week and found an Indian store here called Om Market (right across from the Kroger on Plymouth). Among some spices, a few cans of Thums Up (an India Coca Cola drink), and a few bags of Maggi (spicy noodles eaten a lot in India), I also found a bottle of Rooh Afza! And I’ve been having milk/water with one or two spoonfuls of the stuff for quite a few days up until now. 😀
However, after having making that kind of drink for a bit, I’ve been in the mood for trying something different with it. That’s what led me to a recipe online for Rooh Afza Flavored Faluda. Faluda is apparently china grass pudding/agar-agar, a gelatin made from red algae (used for more than just spreading bacteria on, as I found out from this recipe). I don’t know, long story short, this seems interesting and I’d love to give it a shot if I can somehow get agar-agar/china grass pudding. If any of you guys have comments on where I can find that in AA, let me know! The recipe I found is linked here for anyone else that’s interested/curious: http://www.aminacreations.com/2012/06/rooh-afza-flavoured-faluda.html