Rose gulkand & yoghurt — Colonel Saab London
Gulkand is rose petal jam — made by layering fresh rose petals with sugar and letting them preserve slowly in the sun for weeks. The result is a deeply fragrant, dark-pink jam with the concentrated essence of hundreds of rose petals. It is used across South Asian cooking and traditional medicine (Ayurvedic practice prescribes gulkand as a cooling agent) in paan (betel leaf preparation), mithai (sweets), and lassis. Colonel Saab's Gulkand Lassi is their most distinctly Mughal drink — the cuisine of the Mughal courts was saturated with rose (gulabi sherbet, rose water rice, rose-scented kebabs). The lassi bridges that historical tradition with the contemporary Indian restaurant in London.
Gulkand is available at every UK Indian grocery store (Neasden, Southall, Green Street in East London, and online). Quality varies — Hamdard Roohafza gulkand is sweeter and more aromatic than budget brands. Rose water should be used sparingly; the gulkand already provides intense rose flavour. For a more sophisticated version, use rose jam (not rose water) from a Middle Eastern deli for a different but equally beautiful result.
An elegant homage to the era of the Indian Army officer — refined North and Central Indian cuisine in a handsome Holborn dining room. Colonel Saab's bar programme is built on house-spiced spirits and techniques drawn from both the subcontinent and the British raj era, producing some of London's most inventive Indian cocktails.
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