Asab

Before You Start

Lime straight away. It buys you time against oxidation.

Press three times — most of the yield is in the later passes.

There is no making this in advance.

How to Make Asab

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1. Peel the hard outer skin from the cane with a heavy knife and cut the pale interior into finger-length pieces.

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2. Pass them through a sugarcane press three times, feeding the crushed fibre back through each time — most of the juice comes out on the second and third pass.

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3. Without a press: blitz the chopped cane with the cold water in a powerful blender for 2 minutes, then strain hard through muslin, squeezing the fibre dry.

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4. Strain the juice through a fine sieve to remove fibre.

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5. Add the lime juice immediately — it slows the browning noticeably.

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6. Fill glasses with ice and pour.

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7. Drink within a few minutes. It will start to darken and flatten in about twenty.

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Leftovers, Reheating and Keeping

None. It browns within 20 minutes and is undrinkable by the next day.

Changing the Recipe

• Lemon is the everyday swap for lime in this kind of dish — the acidity plays the same role even though the flavour is not identical.

What to Serve Alongside

• Hawawshi
• Ta'ameya
• Hot afternoons

What's in a Serving

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.