Kewra Water substitute

Substitutes for Kewra Water with ratios

1. 2Orange blossom water

   Different taste

   Use the same amount

   Neroli distillate from bitter orange flowers, widely available in Middle Eastern shops.

   What changes

   Best for

   kheer, rasmalai, milk sweets and halwa, syrups for jalebi and basbousa, cold drinks

   Brighter and more citrus-blossom than kewra, with a slightly bitter finish that is genuinely welcome against heavy sweetened milk. In kheer, rasmalai or a sugar syrup it is excellent. In a meat biryani it sits a little oddly, because the citrus reads as dessert next to the spices, so if biryani is what you are cooking reach for rose water instead.

2. 3Saffron steeped in warm milk

   Different taste

   Use a large pinch of saffron soaked 10 minutes in 2 tbsp warm milk for every 1 tsp kewra water

   A different aroma doing the same job, plus colour.

   What changes

   Best for

   biryani, kheer, kulfi, shahi dishes and pulao

   This is what a lot of good biryani cooks reach for anyway. Saffron is not floral at all, it is honeyed, hay-like and faintly metallic, so it does not imitate kewra so much as replace its role as the luxurious aroma that hits you when the lid comes off. It also stains the rice gold in streaks, which most people consider an upgrade rather than a compromise. Crush the threads between your fingers before soaking so the colour releases properly.

3. 4Green cardamom

   Different taste

   Use 3 to 4 pods bruised and added at the end, or ⅛ tsp freshly ground for every 1 tsp kewra water

   The most forgiving aromatic in the Indian pantry.

   What changes

   Best for

   kheer, biryani, halwa, gulab jamun syrup, chai and lassi

   Cardamom is warm, resinous and faintly camphorous rather than floral, and it never tastes wrong in any of the dishes that call for kewra. It also cannot go soapy the way an overdosed flower water can, which makes it the safe choice if you are cooking for people who dislike perfumed food. Grind it fresh if you can, because pre-ground cardamom loses most of its aroma within weeks.

4. 5Pandan extract, used very sparingly

   Different taste

   Use ⅛ tsp pandan extract for every 1 tsp kewra water

   A relative of the same plant family, pointing in a completely different flavour direction.

   What changes

   Best for

   coconut desserts, rice puddings where green is acceptable, custards, Southeast Asian sweets

   Worth explaining because the names overlap and people assume they are interchangeable. Kewra comes from the flowers of a screwpine, while pandan extract comes from the leaves of a different screwpine species, and the flavours are nothing alike: pandan is grassy, coconut-vanilla and savoury-sweet. It is also brilliantly, artificially green in most bottles, so it will tint white rice or kheer a pale mint colour. Use it when a green coconut-scented pudding sounds good, not when you want kewra.

5. 6Leave it out

   Different taste

   No replacement

   A legitimate choice, because kewra is a finishing perfume and not a structural ingredient.

   What changes

   Best for

   biryani, pulao, kheer, any recipe where kewra is the last item on the list

   Kewra contributes aroma and nothing else, no sweetness, no acid, no colour, no thickening, so a biryani without it is still a very good biryani with slightly less drama at the table. Say this plainly because it matters: nothing is better than too much. A pot ruined by half a bottle of rose water is unfixable, while a pot with no flower water at all is just dinner.