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Sugarcane juice
'Asab: freshly pressed sugarcane juice, sold ice-cold from street presses across Egypt
Juice shops all over Cairo and the towns of Upper Egypt crush sugarcane through clattering steel rollers and serve the pale green juice ice-cold for a few pounds a glass, a favourite in the summer heat and after Ramadan fasting. It is sweet, grassy and refreshing, with a faint lemony edge, and it tastes best within minutes of pressing. Without a press, peeled cane chopped small and blended with a little water gives a very close result at home. Chef's tip: peel the cane completely, because the hard green rind makes the juice bitter and dark.
- Total time
- 10 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ lb fresh sugarcaneabout 4 short sticks
- 1 cup cold water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ⅜ in fresh ginger (optional)peeled
- 8 ice cubes (optional)
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Method
0/5 doneStep 1: With a sturdy knife, cut 2 ¼ lb fresh sugarcane into 15 cm lengths and slice away all the hard outer rind until only pale flesh is left. Leaving patches of rind on is the usual mistake.
Step 2: Chop the peeled cane into 1 cm pieces. Cane is fibrous, so cut through the joints carefully.
Step 3: Blend the pieces with 1 cup cold water, 1 tbsp lemon juice and ⅜ in fresh ginger, if using, in two batches until the fibres are shredded.
3 minStep 4: Pour into a muslin-lined sieve and squeeze the cloth hard to extract every drop. Discard the fibres.
Step 5: Serve at once over 8 ice cubes. Fresh juice darkens and starts to ferment within hours, so don't make it ahead.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 150 kcal
- Protein
- 0 g
- Carbs
- 37 g
- Fat
- 0 g
- Fibre
- 0 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does sugarcane juice take?
- About 10 minutes in total.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of lemon juice?
- Lime juice, same amount.
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