As we ring in 2021, let’s think of new beginnings. We’ve had a tough year and it’s not over yet. It will be a while before we can breathe easy and know that we are in the clear. However, not all is lost. In the clutter of our daily lives, silence can sometimes make our thoughts heard, Those that are often just bursting to rise to the surface but keep getting pushed under.
For me, it was taking a closer look at alcohol-free drinks. For those of you who know me or of me, it may come as a bit of a shock. Honestly, for a bit, I did debate it myself. But I knew it was time to flip to the other side. Every so often I would get a request for a “nice” mocktail or something a kid would enjoy and I’d create something cool. This pushed me into challenging myself to widen the choices we offer those that came to our bars and do not drink alcohol. The idea was to give them a glass that looked as good as or even better than our cocktails. To make them feel a part of the space and not alienated from the crowd.
The rules of looking good apply universally and do not have to be partial to cocktails alone. Lots of ice, slices of fresh fruit and mint, stylish glasses will elevate even the most ordinary drink. Try half a slice of sweet lime or orange in an iced tea. Some fresh mint sprigs over jal jeera. A green chilli and fresh coriander over buttermilk or a sprinkling of roasted jeera over aam panna.
Let’s elevate the simple iced tea to greater heights. All you have to do is flavour the tea with aromatics such as orange peel, lemongrass or ginger before you pour it on ice with some sugar and lime and you’ve got three new iced tea recipes. Of course, you can use fruit crushes/squashes and purees to make flavoured fruit iced tea in peach, strawberry and litchi. Add a splash of orange juice to enhance the flavour. Or apple juice with slices of fresh green and red apples.
Think about flavoured lemonades. Fruit puree on ice topped with lemonade, tonic or ginger ale. Add a splash of soda to cut the sweetness. A squeeze of lime to add freshness. And fresh herbs and spices for even more layers of flavour. Think passion fruit and rosemary; strawberry and black pepper, orange and thyme, litchi and mint, blueberry and basil, cucumber and curry leaf. Up the nuances by combining two fruit flavours — strawberry and litchi, cucumber and green apple, mango and passion…. All you need to do is open your mind to the endless possibilities.
Shakes and yoghurt smoothies can be quite fantastic too with just a little imagination. Strawberry & chocolate bourbon biscuit, chocolate & peanut butter, coffee & ginger cookies, date & chickoo, mango & litchi are just a few ideas to get you started. How about a double chocolate & mint shake or a blueberry cheesecake yoghurt smoothie. Try a Bounty lassi with chocolate and coconut or a fresh kiwi and mint lassi. I think you are beginning to get the idea!
Pina Colada is still everybody’s favourite mocktail. But how about Strawberry Pina Colada. Or a Mango Colada. Or even a Banana Pina or a Passion Pina. Make an exotic punch using frozen berries, litchis, kiwi, frozen pineapple with coconut water, mango juice or pomegranate juice and top with ice and fizzy lime. Pour into stemmed wine glasses and finish with fresh herbs or edible flowers. Mocktails do not have to be a glassful of sweet, syrupy mush. They can be as crafted and nuanced as cocktails are. The play of flavours can be amazing and exciting. They’re simple, easily accessible and quick. They also taste and look very good. And most of all, they make a very large group of people very happy.
I leave you with two of my favourite “hot” drinks to cuddle up with as the air continues to be nippy, more in some parts than in others. May your world always be filled with good cheer and deliciousness!
APPLE
CINNAMON TODDY
Glass: Wine/Rocks
Ingredients
200ml apple juice
1 cinnamon/cassia bark stick
½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
2 teaspoons demerara sugar
Garnish: apple slice, cinnamon stick, cinnamon-sugar rim
Method
Mix the cinnamon powder & demerara sugar in a plate
Dip the rim of the glass in apple juice then into the sugar mix
In a kettle or saucepan, heat the apple juice
Add a cinnamon stick to the apple juice while boiling
Keep a steel spoon in the glass and pour the hot apple juice over it
Drop in two slices of apple and stir
Or dip the apple in cinnamon sugar and sit it on the rim!
*Note: Pouring hot liquid directly in the glass could crack or break it. Metal absorbs
heat, keeping it safe. Which is why it is a good idea to keep a spoon in the glass.
PEANUT BUTTER HOT CHOCOLATE
Glass: Cups/Mug
Ingredients
1 cup full cream milk or
skimmed milk
½ cup water
2 teaspoons creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons chocolate chips/chopped chocolate bar
2 teaspoons cocoa powder in 2 tablespoons boiling water with 2 teaspoons sugar /30ml dark chocolate sauce/chocolate sauce/4 teaspoons hot chocolate powder
Garnish: marshmallows/Snickers/whipped cream, peanut butter lining
Method
Line the glass with smidges of peanut butter
Heat the milk and water in a saucepan
Whisk cocoa/chocolate/sauce, peanut butter, chocolate chips and sugar with a couple of tablespoons of boiling water in the mug
Pour the hot milk mixture into a mug and stir well to dissolve the chocolate chips
Garnish
(Recipes from ‘The Can’t Go Wrong Book of Mocktails’.)
(The writer is a mixologist, beverage consultant and author immersed in hospitality and alcobev for over four decades.)