Does nostalgia ride high when you hear the word Roohafza? Can you not get over the heavenly aromatic sweetness and the fond childhood memories that this drink invokes in you? Here comes again the herbal concoction, with a new name, Roohafza Almond Milk, in the form of a power-packed drink with chia seeds, honey, and cashew nuts poured in milk with a generous dose of Roohafza topped with your favourite ice cream. Didn't that leave you drooling already? It is a delectable shot of energy and nutrients with omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants in chia seeds and honey, healthy fats and calcium in cashews and milk.
This magical Unani drink is an absolutely indigenous product. Its origin dates back to 1906 when Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majid of Old Delhi thoughtfully created this herbal concoction to assuage the people from the notorious summers of Delhi. The original Roofafza consisted of herbs and flowers like khurfa seeds, chicory, European white lily, Blue star water lily, lotus and fruits like orange, pineapple, apple, berries, strawberry, raspberry, loganberry, and cherry. It even included vegetables like mint, spinach, carrot, sponge gourd, lemon, and kewra essence with vetiver.
Roohafza which is a sort of concentrated squash, meaning something that 'refreshes the soul', has come a long way to become an irreplaceable household cooling drink and indeed a soul-quenching refresher.
The Roohafza has its presence in both Pakistan and Bangladesh besides India, as the younger son of Hakim Abdul Majid migrated to Pakistan post-partition, while the elder son chose to stay back in India. The drink started to be sold on a commercial scale only in 1948, under the brand Hamdard Laboratories India founded by the Roohafza founder. The Indian Sherbets, Falooda and even some of the desserts are incomplete without Roohafza. It is also added as a flavourful syrup topping on ice creams. Traditionally, Roohafza syrup is served with cold milk and ice or made into a water-based sherbet with sugar and lemon. The two Indian variants of the Roohafza drink are Roohafza Fusion and Roohafza Milkshake.
Preparation time: 10-15 minutes
Servings: 2
Ingredients:
• 2 cups of full-fat milk
• 4 tbsp Roohafza syrup
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 3 ground cashew nuts
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1 cup ice
• 500 ml of full-fat milk
• Sliced almonds for decoration
• 4 tbsp Roohafza syrup
Method:
• In a glass, put chia seeds and cashews.
• Pour honey followed by Roohafza.
• Fill the glass half with cold milk and stir everything nicely so that Roohafza and honey get infused in the milk a bit.
• In another jar, take the rest of the full-fat milk, and pour Rooh Afza as per your taste. Whisk this up into frothy milk.
• Add this froth over the milk and Roohafza mixture of the glass.
• Top it up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or any other ice cream of your choice.
• Drizzle little Roohafza syrup over it and garnish with rose petals, and chopped almonds.
Enjoy the drink to the last drop, biting away the cashews coming in your way and feel the plump and watery chia seeds swimming inside happily. It is ideal for the senses, summers, skin and your overall health. You couldn't have asked for more in a glass!
