Are you in need of a refreshing creamy drink to break your Ramadan fast? Or just a refreshment on a hot summers day? Then give this sobia recipe from Amira’s Pantry a try!
Prep time: 7 hours
Cooking time: –
Makes: 3-4 glasses
Ingredients
2tbsp uncooked rice
250ml water
50g sugar (or more if you like it sweeter)
50g powdered milk
500ml coconut milk (NB: there was some dispute here to what this meant. Lizzy took the tinned coconut milk while I went for the much more liquidy one in the carton. I think both worked well – just depends how creamy you’d like it!
1/2tsp vanilla
1. Sobi-a it
The first step begins at least six hours before your want to drink your sobia. Firstly, grind your 2tbsp of rice to a fine powder, either using a pestle and mortar or cleaning your coffee grinder well before and after using…. (“well” is quite debatable here as you can see from the following picture…)
Add your rice powder to a jug with the 250ml of water and leave for 6 hours or overnight. When you return the water should be slightly cloudy
Add this ricewater mixture to a vessel for blending along with 50g sugar (or more if you like it sweeter), 50g powdered milk, 500ml coconut milk and 1/2tsp vanilla
Blitz in your blender and then drain through a coffee filter or tea strainer into your cup of choice
Dink and sink!
Food for Thought
Lizzy says: “Kate has suggested this recipe a few times before, and I was always worried that my peg leg would not grind the rice enough for the sobia to work.. how wrong I was! This recipe was a total success, I loved the thick creaminess of the drink and would definitely savour this on a hot summer’s day. My only advise is to drink it quickly! I put mine in the fridge and tried some again a few days later and it was like wall paper paste. 8/10”
Kate says: “I cannot lie, I’ve had sobia many times before and it is never not delicious! As long as you have the foresight to prepare this a bit before you’d like to drink it (or you have the ready-made powder at home…) then this is a very quick and easy recipe – low effort high reward! I will certainly be making this again, I love the creamy sweet taste and how refreshing it is particularly in hot weather – I do have yet to try it direct from a plastic bag as is the custom in Egypt during Ramadan 10/10“
9/10 Gasps
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