Egyptian Sobia: Chilled Coconut and Rice Milk Drink with Cinnamon

Rinse the rice under cold running water until the water runs clear, then cover it with 2 cups of cold water and soak at room temperature for at least 4 hours or overnight until the grains are chalky-soft and crush easily between your fingers.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup white short-grain rice
• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 4 cups cold water, plus 2 cups for soaking
• 1 cup whole milk or additional coconut milk
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk, or 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more for dusting
• Pinch of fine sea salt
• Ice cubes, for serving
• Toasted coconut flakes, for garnish

Instructions

1. Rinse the rice under cold running water until the water runs clear, then cover it with 2 cups of cold water and soak at room temperature for at least 4 hours or overnight until the grains are chalky-soft and crush easily between your fingers.
2. Drain the soaked rice and combine it in a blender with the shredded coconut and 4 cups of fresh cold water.
3. Blend on high for a full 2 minutes — longer than feels necessary — until the mixture is completely smooth and pale white with no gritty rice fragments left.
4. Strain through a fine mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth set over a large bowl, gathering the cloth and squeezing hard to extract every drop of milk. Discard the pulp.
5. Whisk the whole milk, condensed milk, vanilla, cinnamon and salt into the strained liquid until fully combined and uniformly creamy.
6. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. The drink naturally separates as it rests — this is expected, not a fault.
7. Whisk or shake vigorously to recombine just before serving, then pour over tall glasses of ice.
8. Dust each glass with extra cinnamon and a few toasted coconut flakes, and serve very cold.
9. Sobia is the sound of Egyptian summer evenings, poured from enormous chilled urns by street vendors in Cairo and Alexandria and inseparable from the nights of Ramadan, when its cold sweetness is the first thing many people reach for after a long fast. The long rice soak is the whole technique: fully hydrated grains break down completely in the blender, giving the drink its silky body without any thickener or cooking at all. Every family guards its own ratio, some leaning heavily coconut, others closer to a plain sweetened rice milk, and the argument over which is correct is very much part of the tradition.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 290 kcal
• Protein: 5g
• Fat: 14g
• Carbohydrates: 38g
• Fiber: 3g
• Sugar: 24g
• Sodium: 95mg