Summer Refresher

On Saturday we were hosting the book club over at our place, and for some reason, including being unemployed, I decided to go all out on the food. Hyderabadi cuisine, followed by a dessert buffet. Yes, a bit crazy that way. And of course, given the elaborate menu, how could the drinks be plain old wine or vodka out of a bottle? I considered making melon sangrias with white wine but the effort to juice melons sounded too much, not to mention a bit uncertain since I’m not a good picker of ripe melons. So, to add a desi twist to the proceedings, I decided on aam panna margaritas, and they actually worked out delicious!!! Might just become one of my favourite summer drinks J

Ingredients:

Aam Panna squash (this is a cheat but it worked out to be so much less effort!! I used the Druk one) – 2 bottles
1.5 bottles Smirnoff Vodka
1.25 litres of water
Crushed ice – lots of…

Just mix the three ingredients together and serve with pride. If you can’t resist the urge to jazz it up, add slivers of mango peel, thinly sliced lemon or mint leaves, but they are unnecessary to the experience. This makes about 30 servings, depending on how generously you pour. Pictures? Are you kidding? We wiped out three pitchers of the stuff!!

The Menu for the night?
Bagare Baingan
Khatti dal
Hyderabadi Dahi wadas
Tamarind Rice
Curd rice

Paan kulfi, served on pan leaves
Rose-flavoured pannacotta topped with fresh mulberries, served on rose petals
Dumroth
No-bake cheesecake topped with grapes
Melon balls steeped in Malibu, with a chiffonade of mint
 

Desi Margaritas

My soul-sis was throwing a brunch to bring in her 40th birthday and rang me up a day before to ask me to come up with a signature drink for the party. I immediately flashed back to something I'd seen a friend drink during my recent Sri Lanka vacation and decided I could improve on it. So we made Tamarind Margaritas, or Tamaritas. And for those of you with Indian tastebuds or a liking for tongue-tingling, this is a winner! It tastes fabulous, goes well with Indian or other spicy food and is refreshingly different.

Ingredients:
One fistful of Tamarind, soaked in about 500 ml warm water
4-5 tablespoonsful sugar ( or to taste)
1-2 tablespoons of chilli powder
Vodka or tequila - 500 ml
Crushed ice - about half kilo

Let the tamarind soak for a couple of hours. Then squeeze it thoroughly into the warm water so all the flavour is released. Strain it and then add sugar - it should be strongly sour and sweet, remember you're going to dilute it with ice and vodka. Add the chilli powder - it should be enough to give you a hit of heat at the back of the throat but not enough to make your tongue burn, so add chilli powder slowly! Refrigerate until nice and chilled.

Mix equal parts of vodka, the tamarind juice and crushed ice. Serve in glasses rimmed with salt - use rock salt for an added kick. Decorate the glass with a split green chilli and enjoy!

Tip: To rim the glass, dip the rim in lime juice and then in salt. The easiest way I found to crush the ice was to wrap the cubes in a clean cloth and have at them with a pestle.