Fiddling with a Riddle

You poke me in the eye
And my jaws open wide
Paper, Linen or Cloth ….
I Lustily …..

This sing song excited voice jarred me into consciousness early Sunday morning. I took a moment to get my bearings straight when that excited voice, full of charged vigor screamed saying “quick, quick, what is it?” I had no answer and I unconsciously asked for the lines to be repeated again. Meanwhile, my senses had still not kicked in to match the adrenaline charged voice on the other end of my phone and it was rendered futile as I heard another voice pipe up from behind somewhere, this time shouting out “Dustbin”. I chose to shut off my phone and catch up on the leftover forty winks.

I woke up in a few hours with the words still ringing in my head and realized it was for a “Treasure Hunt”, a pre-wedding celebration, organized by a lovely to-be couple who were due to get married in a week’s time. Good friends of my brother and young as young can be. Their revelry and pre-wedding celebrations were justified as they stretched endlessly from one occasion to another, as they could afford to make all this happen all with being a fun bunch who have no rules and are probably what the next generation is made up of, no wonder I saw my sibling shuffling around at 7am on a Sunday morning getting ready to go off on this expedition around town.  

For some odd reason, all I could think of was strawberries, as the words were still fresh in my mind (best way to rote stuff, jar it into your head early morning) because the words eye and lust for some reason registered and connote with strawberries (I have no clue how the rest fits in) excusable considering no one throws a riddle at you on a Sunday morning. It might have popped into my head as it being the season and also my mind not thinking beyond food when in “decipher” mode. I usually get into this mode when I am taking apart dishes and trying to figure out the ingredients, quite complex.

I love seasonal fruits, strawberries being a favorite and considered a fruit associated with passion. The fragrance, the color, the taste, all in all sums up to a delicious experience and if you know how to use it well, it can be quite a versatile ingredient in many dishes. My love for strawberries goes beyond slicing them up on breakfast dishes or adding dollops of cream. I have experimented with it in drinks, in salads and of course, various desserts.

A favorite drink made during the season, as I prefer using fresh strawberries rather than crushes, squashes or jams when making cocktails – is a Daiquiri. Fresh, inhibited & raw flavor of fruit intermingled with a sweet alcohol base, a joy to devour.

This daiquiri is infused with a little basil to bring out the freshness and fruitiness of the strawberry even more. A tad bit of guava is incorporated to make an ultimate and exotic feel to the cocktail. Go ahead and shake this up while the season is on.

Ingredients:
(For one cocktail)

1 shot White Rum
4 fresh strawberries hulled and halved
3 tablsp Guava pulp
1 leaf Basil
1 tsp Lemon Juice
1 tablsp Powdered Sugar
A dash of Cointreau (optional)
Cracked Ice

Chill a margarita glass in the freezer before preparing the cocktail.

Pour the Cointreau in the Guava juice and stir. Pour this mix in the margarita glass till it fills the bulb at the bottom.

In a shaker combine, strawberries, cracked ice (large pieces), sugar, lemon Juice, rum and basil leaf. Give it a good shake and peep in to check if the strawberries are crushed with the ice. If you feel this is a tough nut to crack (or pulp) run a metal pound onto the strawberries and pound for a few minutes. Give it a good shake and pour into a vessel. Remove the basil leaf and blend with a hand blender or mixer till you get a smooth frozen pulp.

(The shaker serves the purpose of infusing the basil flavor into the drink and to not overwhelm the flavor we remove the leaf and then blend the fruit and alcohol together, this step is essential in keeping the base flavors intact)

Pour the pulp onto the guava juice in the margarita glass and serve chilled with a garnish of basil leaf and half a strawberry.

Meanwhile, congratulations to the to-be married couple – hope their commitment is treasured as much as their treasure hunt today!

 

In need of change, Indeed

I don’t know about you, but I definitely am on a constant lookout for new happenings and doings, if things don’t go about in your life with a little detour once in a while and if you keep on the same chosen path – living the life as it is, it would be pointless, bland and ostensibly boring.

If things get too routine I create situations to make them interesting, a little role play here and little nudge to extreme there. Think beyond your boundaries and capture the unknown when you are settling into a comfortable zone. This is what life’s all about, you experiment, succeed or fail and you move on to the next best thing. All opportune moments will come; you just have to make a grab for it.

I am, on the superficial layer, quite calm, composed and relaxed, but as they say, everything superficial is not necessarily true just like beauty or personality; I am a raging maniac inside, persistently making my way about adventures and unseen situations, just to bring about that spark which keeps me going. It’s all pretty much a game and these are the little things in life which I enjoy.

I have always been agitated with food repeating itself on the table. Even at a restaurant; I try and make things a little more interesting than they normally should be. I usually leave it to the chef when I am ordering something special (whether with friends, colleagues or family, I get to pick ONE dish aside from the regular, and that’s saying a lot, considering I am usually surrounded by one track minded people who see only the specialty of the restaurant or something which they have eaten and been eating there forever). If I don’t get a chance to order in something which the restaurant offers as a house / chef special, I make it a point to order a house special sauce or chutney, something extraordinary to trick my palate into believing something different is being savored.

The next best thing to a cocktail (that’s when I am bored of the sweets and the sours of alcohol) is a beer. Round the clock refreshing and pretty easy on the alcohol content giving a nice relaxed feeling without making you feel too full or drunk. An uncle of mine is a crazy beer fanatic, when I was over at his place in L.A. for a month and a half, I would soak up the ambience of his beautiful house with continuous refills of chilled draft on tap.

There are thousands of varieties of beer one can enjoy. India, is delving slowly into the whole variety beer market, but it will take its time. From ales, lagers, malts to stouts & drafts, it’s all a fantastic market out there for us to discover. I have heard about this place on the outskirts of Pune which boasts of a resort (called “The Corinthians”) housing its own brewery – a definite must visit and shall do so in the near future.

As may be the case I get bored too easily of sipping on a kingfisher or a bud on a regular basis (I used to enjoy chugging London Pilsner when it was manufactured here). So I try and spruce up my cold one once in a while. One of the common additives (and the ones beer lovers dared to experiment with) to beer are lemon (as with the case in Corona, without which, corona loses its complete aura). But there are many ways in which one can enhance the flavors and tease your palate; it comes in handy when you are having a particular type of cuisine too.

Beer generally can never be flavored, but for people like me, I wouldn’t mind having that change of taste once in a while. I have, in the course of my experiments, tended and succeeded in singling out few additives which can make your experience of beer a lot more entertaining.

Chillies:

One of my favorite additives, our Indian chillies has the right amount of smokiness and spiciness to bring out the crispness in any beer. Not only does it add an element of Indian’ ness to the beer (we all love biting on our chillies in our meals don’t we?) but brings out many hidden flavors when the sharpness of the chillies hit your tongue. A perfect combination of chilled and spicy, contrary to the hot and spicy, which we are used to. Slit a parrot chili in the middle and toss into your beer mug right before serving it.

Lemon:

A common sight when a wedge is stuck on the lip of a Corona bottle, infact Corona advertises its beer with a lemon wedge. It enhances the flavors to indomitable heights, what with all the sourness and the tanginess, no wonder we relate to it. Add a slice once in a while to your mug of beer and if you want to stay safe – stick to Corona. Wheat beers go unusually well with lemon.

Orange Rind:

This is quite an interesting twist to your common ale. The citrus flavors blend well with most draft beers and all you need is a long slice of fresh orange rind to make the perfect addition to your beer. The citrusy, slightly fruity flavor subdues the bitterness a little while giving it a nice finish with every sip. The rind, if placed precariously over the mug rim, shall give you fresh bursts of flavor and smell which you can sniff on when taking a sip. Serve this with a chili too when having Thai food. Your dish will have an exciting accompaniment.

Coriander:

A small amount of muddled herbs enhance each and every thing, even if it means your beer. A practical herb is coriander, apart from imparting a distinguishable flavor to the beer, the herb acts as a catalyst in enhancing the yeastiness in the beer. A fun addition if you like your fizz with a kick. Just muddle a few fresh coriander leaves with the stalk and toss into your beer mug. If you don’t like the leaves interrupting the flow in your mouth and need a smoother drink experience, just tie the muddled coriander in a small muslin cloth and drop it in your beer. You can remove it in a couple of minutes once the foam settles down or you reach the bottom of your drink.

A change is good once in a while, you need to keep it going to keep yourself going.      

The Manipulation

It’s all as if it’s written down somewhere, and we are mere puppets controlled by something far more superior – well scripted, well written, and in the end dangling by a thin thread, which, in retrospect, you either snap and fall or as people say “hang in there”.

As we grow older, mature, understand the worldly ways, we come upon a furtive tide of underlying meanings, covert operations and opaqueness in the people around us. Our complex minds as well as the minds of people in our little world are so quick in comprehending situations, that to make it in our favor, all it takes is a nanosecond. These qualities are not rare, they are inbred in us and we have to adept to much battering before they take over and we are in control.

Manipulation is a wondrous thing if used correctly; don’t get me wrong, it would take a devils advocate for me to admit that manipulation should be used in the dirty sense, but there will be times when you will need to resort to mild mind alterations or put up a smoke screen depending on the direction. I, personally, being subject to quite a few obvious situations which were so obtuse, allowed it to be played on, just so that in the end, the grand finale would be executed by me. In life, one must learn to take control of situations. Observe, be sharp and lookout for that string, you could all but turn it around.

Similarly, I was quite fed up of having a bottle of Crème de menthe lying around at home. I had bought it off a duty free shelf just because the color was so damned good and vibrant that I could picture out heady cocktails at terrace dos not realizing that the peppermint taste was quite tooth-paste’ish and I would rather gargle with it than sniff and swig.

I got an opportune moment of doing the honors by whipping up a cocktail for a classic bar shot, just – again, because the color said it all. I did not want to just throw in the liquor and top it up with ice and shoot it. Though the picture does justice to the seductive color, it does not actually do anything much to the taste sense of my readers, quite more so since I have methodically manipulated you into thinking it looks good but tastes exactly how I have described it above. Incidentally, the cocktail I shook up (a last minute think off my head) turned out to be quite tantalizing – just like its color.

1 shot Crème de menthe (each per glass)

For the tangy shaves:
1 shot Lime Cordial
1drop Angostura® Bitters
1 tsp Gin

In an Ice Tray start by pouring a small shot of Lime cordial, followed by gin and a tiny drop of bitters into an ice hollow, top it with water and stir. I have specified in the recipe the quantity required for each ice hollow in the tray as the alcohol content should be low to get good hard ice cubes. Fill up all the hollows similarly and deep freeze.

To serve, pour the crème de menthe into a chilled Margarita Cocktail Glass. Shave the ice in an ice shaver (I find the manual hand cranked ones quite useful) to get soft tangy snow and quickly toss into the cocktail glass. Serve with a lime twist.

This drink is best enjoyed immediately, as your tongue gets subjected to the electrifying tangy but dry (due to the gin) ice shaves it is immediately subdued by the cool calm flavor of the peppermint which makes its way through to take over. Who is manipulating whom now?  - I had been manipulated into buying the liquor due to its attractive color, hated it, and then manipulated the taste to make it the way I liked it. It’s all a vicious circle – and you could pick a point or two into what I am “actually” trying to say.

Infuse Inspiration

Inspiration hits you like a brick when it comes along and I have been hit quite often in the remotest of situations. It's a good thing, inspiration, as without it, we would be no where. There is nothing which can concretely be established as a trigger for inspiration, it can come in any form. I have a habit of day dreaming (no, not because I have nothing to do, but my work is such that the commute either by train or car, is long enough to float your thoughts to wonderland), and in these random and mundane thoughts I come up with the craziest of combinations, fusions or recipes.

Inspiration is also the much needed fuel to propel your ideas, enhance skills and most of all, keep your hobbies or work alive. Things, People, Items and even Situations make a complex puzzle in ones everyday life from which one can extract immense inspiration.  

I  see a pear lying on the fruit tray and I can think up a hundred ways to cook it and the outcome is usually something mildly entertaining, because all I do is stupidly grin and my creation and devour it myself - till the next time when I make it for someone else.

I had a tough last week with contracts, negotiations and documentation taking up a lot of my time at work, especially since half the world (as in my world) was in the preparation of the holidays in a few weeks. Saturday night had left no energy in me to go out and do what people do on Saturday nights. I just wanted to reach home, loosen the tie, make myself a drink, put up my feet and probably settle down and watch MasterChef India (which, by the way, was ... well no comments). I had my sister-in-law over with her new baby girl, a stress buster all in all, and she (the baby, not sis-in-law) had come of age to start eating mushy food. My sister-in-law pureed some pear and cucumbers (no, not together that would be termed just gross) and was feeding her. Instantly an idea cropped up about the cool refreshing cucumber and the sweet fruity flavor of pear which was enough to get my thoughts churning and I set out to make myself the much needed drink.

I found a bottle of Absolut Pear lying in the rear shelf of the bar and I did not want to just throw it over ice and gulp it down. Citrus was in order with a little bit of enhanced sweetness, so here's my baby food inspired cocktail.

1 Part Absolut Pear
1 tablsp Sugar Syrup
1 tablsp Lemon Juice
1 Leaf - Basil
Ice
Shaker

Shake all the ingredients in a shaker with cracked ice. Let it sit for a while if you want it a bit diluted. Strain into a cocktail glass and serve with a fresh leaf of basil. If you want the taste of basil to infuse in the cocktail, throw in a leaf when shaking it up.

Of course, I would not want my readers to sulk at the thought of non-availability of Absolut Pear, because I do not expect everyone to look at their bar shelf and expect a bottle of Absolut Pear lying there. So here's a simple solution to making your own Pear Infused Vodka. The Recipe is quite simple actually and you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out infusions.

Clean a large fresh pear thoroughly with water and wipe till completely dry. With a fork or sharp utensil scrape the outer layer of the skin randomly all over to bruise the skin a bit. Roughly chop the pear into large pieces and keep aside.

Take a glass bell jar or any glass/ceramic jar with a tight fitting lid. Clean it well by immersing in boiling water for 5 minutes or so and leaving it out to dry in an area where you have sunlight filtering in.

Once you are sure the jar is dry, add the chopped pear, add a rind of a lemon - I like the combination of refreshing citrus with fruit (ensure the white pith is not added) and top it up with vodka (any local brand will do, Smirnoff for example). Ensure that the Vodka covers the fruit completely. Leave undisturbed in a dark corner of your kitchen or cupboard for a week minimum. Usually, I cannot wait that long and in between days I usually take to sniffing the infusion which leads to a taste and which eventually leads to a shot.

But the longer you keep the infusion the more intense the flavors get. Remove the rind after a week if keeping the infusion longer. This way the Vodka captures the Pear's sweet aromatic flavors and not too much of the citrus. This infusion can be kept for over a month even if you leave the fruit in as the alcohol ensures the fruit does not spoil. Its a win-win situation all the way.  

Down & Dirty

I was always intrigued and in awe of the word “Martini”. As a kid (all thanks to James Bond) I thought that’s the proper cocktail for a man. Dad was a whiskey drinker, others had Pilsner and the ladies always had a Bloody Mary? But the lure of movies is such that I always felt when I was old enough to have “adult” drinks it would start with a Martini. (A fine example of my upbringing you might think, what with other kids my age having aspirations of being a pilot, architect or doctor); anyway no judgmental views here.

My first tryst with a Martini was a complete let down. I might have just turned 16, fresh out of school and into college and our gang of buddies decide to go to a night club (in the afternoon, yes, those were the days). Money was limited so a round of beers was ordered and those who were experienced started confidently swigging. I, being the experimental kind and a little extra cash on hand (all due to the excitement of a night club! Teens, I tell you) went up to the bar and ordered a Martini (yes, yes, I used the cheesy line – shaken not stirred) and got a Martini for sure, in a Martini glass, but, wait for it – it was horrendously bitter, strong as hell and surprisingly warm? I thought to myself, it’s no wonder Dad takes to Whiskey.

Though it never occurred to me at that time that anyone could mess up a drink, especially a simple Martini, I was determined to find out the right recipe.

I have definitely come a long way from the Blue Riband® Gin and Cinzano® Vermouth days. The Cinzano® remains my all time favorite as dry vermouth, but I have conveniently shifted over to Bombay Sapphire®, it being easily available in most wine stores nowadays.

The deep colored and rich turquoise blue bottle instantly reminds you of a serene and calm blue sea and the gin somewhat relates to the dryness of the hot sand; the age old recipe of this gin comprises of ten of the most carefully select botanical ingredients which are distilled to perfection to reveal its true flavor making it a wonderfully crisp and balanced spirit. Of course, this Gin when mixed up with Dry Vermouth – makes a perfect Martini.

There are many kinds of Martinis, the quintessential being Dry Martini with its posh slightly briny flavor and pimento stuffed olive garnish. The Dirty Martini takes the cake with a little bit of olive juice to the mix while stirring it up (and of course 3 olives to make it murkier, hence the name Dirty Martini) and my favorite – the Lemon Drop Martini.

The recipes floating around as also mixed up in most bars use Vodka and Cointreau as the alcoholic base. I like things the classic way and have tweaked the classic martini a bit. The lemon drop martini I stir up is a heavenly bouquet of Gin, Sweet Vermouth and of course sour lemon. I am sure you too will not be able to resist it.

Ingredients:

60ml Bombay Sapphire Gin
30ml Sweet Vermouth (Cinzano)
1 tsp Lemon Juice  
A Lemon Rind (twirled) for garnish
A Dash of Angostura Bitters
Cracked Ice
Alternately you can use the Martini® Brand Mix instead of Vermouth

I like this drink shaken, so I usually put all of the ingredients except the garnish and Bitters in a shaker filled with cracked ice. You can throw in the squeezed lemon for good measure. Shake it for a good half a minute and strain into a Chilled Martini Glass. I then add a drop of Angostura® Bitters and am set to garnish and serve.

I’ll share with you a little trick for the garnish. Before adding the lemon rind hold it over the drink filled glass with tongs, with a lit matchstick or a lighter, lightly brush the flame onto the length of the rind for a second or so, ensure that you do not burn the rind and drop it straight into the drink.

This method releases the citrus oils in the rind and when it falls into the chilled drink, the oils spread and impart a strong and sharp flavor instantly.

Try this drink on a hot summer evening, I am sure you wont regret downing it in gulps (hangover can go fish!)

Choc A Block

Addiction to anything is a rule by nature. We are such complex beings that making a habit out of something is our birthright, and in a way it works out fine, because this way you always have a fall back in case you are not yourself. Every person has a fix, be it chocolates, alcohol, mint, music, smokes, etc. and some people are spontaneous addicts.

I am a spontaneous addict. If I crave something, I need it at that very moment. A simple example, a lot of people know I am not a chocolate fan, but not a lot of people know, that when I indulge, it continues inexorably for over a week, indulgence to its maximum till I am actually filled to the brim with chocolates and I never want to see or smell anything remotely close to cocoa.

A similar spontaneity situation arose the today, and I had an unexplainable urge to have Irish coffee. I like my Irish coffee with a shot of Bailey’s Irish Cream. Now, as usual, when you want something so bad, you always seem to be out of it. I brazenly picked my keys and drove off to my local liquor store to purchase it. As you may have guessed, it was out of stock, I went to a not so local liquor store and they too were out. I was in agony with the thought of no Irish coffee the way I liked it and had half a mind to visit the nearest hotel and pick up my fix. Just when I had given up all hopes and driving a beeline to The Hyatt I saw an advertisement which boasted of a chocolate flavored vodka. I faintly recollected a bottle right at the back of my collection which I had picked up a while ago and never bothered to open. My talent juices acted up and I had thought up an excellent brew which, I felt, would ape the Bailey’s to the “T”.

I reached back home, positively shaking (with excitement at my discovery or a kickback of not getting my fix, ill never be able to tell), and whipped out the ingredients I needed and settled back to make what I assumed would satisfy my urge.

I give you a cocktail version of the concoction I made up, and you can use it the next time you brew yourself a cup of coffee. I’ll leave the Irish coffee recipe for some other time as I am still gloating over my Bailey’s piracy.  

Ingredients:

1 shot of Chocolate Flavored Vodka (‘Remix’ in India)

1 cup Vanilla Ice-Cream

1 drop Vanilla Essence

1 tsp Caramel Flavored Syrup

Ice as required

Chocolate Sauce

Cocoa Powder

In a blender combine the ice-cream, essence, syrup, ice and a shot of Vodka and give it a good whip till smooth.

Take the cocktail glass, and with your fingers, rub the rim of the glass with chocolate syrup. Dip the rim in cocoa and stand upright. Pour a spoon of chocolate sauce haphazardly onto the insides of the glass.

Proceed by pouring out the vanilla–vodka mix carefully straight in the middle of the glass and serve immediately.

This recipe may not beat the real Bailey’s but it certainly is lighter on the stomach and calories (as no excess sugar or heavy cream is used) and you might just land up having a couple of glasses more.  

Serious ... Black

The weather plays truant at the oddest of time. It rains when I don't want it to, and it doesn't when I want it to. The rains also bring out the weirdest pangs in you. You definitely make it a point to indulge in road side chaat even though your mother banned you with her right hand over her heart (but gives in when your pangs take over followed by a bout of uncontrollable drooling). Another thing, highly irrational in the rain, is golas or ice candy. No matter how the vendor drags the gunny wrapped block of ice halfway across the street, the same street where countless people walk, spit, and do other unmentionables. No matter how rusty the pick with which he cracks a chunk to slap over his creaky ice shaving machine. No matter how grotesque the vibrant colours look of the 100% synthetic syrup he pours over the shaved iced delight. You still devour it like mana from heaven.

Now that I have officially squashed every Indian's childhood dreams, I'll make it up by sharing with you a recipe I concocted whilst having a candid rendezvous with my favourite Kala Khatta at the beach. I picked up a Kala Khatta concentrate from a nearby general store (Kala Khatta is basically a syrup made from the juice of a fruit called Jamun and is also called the Indian blackberry or the Java plum) which inspired this all-dark alcoholic drink and also gave it that street side grunge.

Ingredients

1 part Grey Goose/Smirnoff Vodka

1 Lime (Juiced)

1 part Kala Khatta Syrup

Shaved Ice

Slice of Lime, Mint & Chaat Masala or Black Salt / Sea Salt & Pepper to Garnish

Pour vodka in a margarita glass till it fills the bulb, top with shaved ice. In a shaker combine the Kala Khatta Syrup with Lime Juice and give it a good shake. Pour carefully over the shaved ice. Garnish with a Slice of Lime, Mint and serve sprinkled with a bit of Chaat Masala / Black Salt / Sea Salt & Pepper. 

Alternatively, you can rim the glass with lime and dip the edge in any of the above seasoning's. I am sure you will make this year round, and all in the confines of your spick and span kitchen.