14 holiday special holiday special 15 DECEMBER 24-30, 2017 DECEMBER 24-30, 2017

GIN PUNCH CHRISTMAS This is a Christmas classic. The festive season MILK PUNCH calls for all sorts of punches — alcohol mixed with warming spices and citrus notes — and this one is Are you celebrating Christmas a favourite with gin lovers. It is preferably made in Goa? No? At least try this with Hendrick’s, with its cucumber and rose notes, warming winner from Mumbai’s and Madeira wine though you could substitute both poshest Goan restaurant O Pedro or either with spirits of your choice. Heat the gin and wine with cloves,es, grggratedateed nnutmeg,utmeg, cinnamon,cic nnamon, Spirits of Christmas Ingredients: brown sugar, lemonn anandd orangeorannge peepeelel fforor 20 minuteminutes.s. The spirit of Christmas is also about its warming spirits, fragrant with four spices: 45 ml Jim Beam Bourbon Sweeten it with honey.neyey. AddAdd a bitbit of frefreshsh pinpineappleeapple 15 ml brandy if you like and you areare goodgoogo d ttoo ssip.ip. cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger. What are the drinks you should drink this 30 ml milk 45 ml cream 5 ml vanilla syrup season? Take your pick from classic cocktails as well as cheeky takes created by top 10 ml sugar syrup restaurants and mixologists of the country 30 ml orange juice Mix all ingredients in a shaker :: Anoothi Vishal over ice and shake well. Pour into a mug and garnish with orange peel and cinnamon stick BUCK’S FIZZ Apparently concocted in 1921 by Malachy THE PCO McGarry, a barman at London’s Buck’s Club, who features in the works of PG Wodehouse, Buck’s BOURBON LOG Fizz is an older version of the mimosa, which This one by the PCO Bar in Delhi is was invented in Paris. Buck’s Fizz is supposedly a as delish as the Yule log! cure for hangovers and the breakfast cocktail for EGG NOG Ingredients: 60 ml Bourbon  45 ml Christmas Day. Unlike the mimosa, which is equal Milk mixed with eggs is not for eve- apple juice  15 ml cinnamon syrup parts sparkling wine and orange juice, this one is ryone but those who like the egg  15 ml lime juice two parts Champagne and one part orange juice. nog love it for its creamy and frothy texture. A cure for colds and fl u in Mix all of them together and serve medieval Europe, this is now part in a coupe glass of the Christmas tradition — made from milk, cream, sugar, whipped egg whites and fewer yolks, spiked with brandy, rum or whisky. Gar- nish with a twig of cinnamon

CRANBERRYRRY GIN-GER FIZZFIZZ HOT BUTTERED Toast & Tonic in Mumbaib i hhas RUM this quirky take on traditional This is an easy cocktail to make ginger fi zzes: it’s light and nice. and one that truly warms the Ingredients: 60 ml London dry heart. Take equal quantity of rum gin  90 ml cranberry juice  and water. For 2 cups of water, 30 ml ginger syrup  sparkling use ¼ cup of unsalted butter. Mix water  pebbled or crushed ice water, butter, the four Christmas spices, brown sugar and a dash First make ginger syrup: of salt and boil. Let the fl avours 1 inch ginger 1 cup sugar MULLED WINE seep in. Then add the rum. Use a   good dark rum 1 cup water ½ teaspoon The trick to making a great mulled pink peppercorns (use black wine is in the wine itself. Most peppercorns if pink isn't people use a cheap, sweet red, but available) try using a good Cabernet Sauvignon with structure or a shiraz with a Peel and thinly slice spicy nose and you will see the dif- ginger. Bring water to a ference. Don’t dull the wine with too boil. Add sugar, ginger much sugar but mull it with fragrant POH OH OH SANTA-GRIA and peppercorns. Simmer Christmas spices and you could add There is sangria, a summer punch, and there is the santa-gria, a robust, on medium heat until the a dash of brandy. It’s the perfect fl oral, winter punch concocted by chef Vikramjit Roy of Poh, Mumbai INDIAN ACCENT’S sugar is dissolved. Chill drink for a cold evening. overnight and strain after Ingredients: Oolong tea, hibiscus, rose petals, pomegranate fl owers, CRYSTAL CHAI A recipe for mulled wine appears lemon balm, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla bean, orange rind, merlot wine, 12 hours. in Mrs Beeton's Book of Household brandy How is India’s best restaurant Management of 1861. For every pint celebrating the festive season? With Now make cocktail: In a of wine, allow one large cupful of First make raspberry leather: 175 gm fresh raspberries 2 tsp fresh KAI BAR’S KAFKA chai crossed with the traditional English cocktail shaker, add ice, gin, water, sugar and spice to taste. Boil lemon juice 2 ½ tsp sugar milk punch, of course. A clever take on cranberry juice and ginger until the fl avour is extracted. Serve ON THE SHORE the clarifi ed milk punch, this cocktail is derived from an 18th century British syrup. Shake vigorously. with strips of dry toast or biscuits. Preheat oven to 75 degree C. Line a tin with a baking sheet. Mix rasp- Make it an Asian Christmas with this drink that recalls recipe and is a blend of clarifi ed punch Strain in a hurricane glass berries, lemon juice and sugar in your food processor. Process until a Haruki Murakami novel. Kai Bar, an oriental retro bar made of Scotch and rum, Darjeeling Other versions of mulled wine the mixture is smooth. Press the mixture through a fi ne-mesh strainer that opens this season in New Delhi, makes this with over pebbled ice. Garnish tea and fresh pineapple. Ingredients include the wassail made from cider to remove the seeds. Pour the mixture over the baking sheet. Spread fermented ingredients that are trending. Fermented with a sprig of rosemary like cloves, cinnamon, orange peel and in the UK, and glogg in Scandinavia in an even, thin layer (about 1/8-inch thick). Bake for two and a half blueberry juice is now available in Japanese and Korean vanilla are soaked in scotch and rum for where either rum or brandy may be to three hours, or until it is not sticky to touch. Cut into strips with a speciality stores and is a great mixer. Mix two parts days and then milk and pineapple juice mixed with red wine, and cardamom knife or a pizza cutter. Store in an airtight container. sake with one part fermented blueberry juice. This is a are added. The trick is in straining the The writer is used to scent the tipple. Try the light Christmas morning drink that can be a quirky sub- looks at Now make santa-gria: Make a tea concoction with all the ingredients milk solids out of the punch so that the latter this year stitute to your fruity mimosas. Heat a sprig of rosemary restaurants, except the alcohol in 250 ml water. Strain and reserve for use. Mix drink has the body of milk, but appears food trends and drop it into the glass. The aroma of burnt rosemary wine, brandy and 100 ml of brewed tea. Pour it warm. Serve with crystal clear. Better than egg nog. and will stay with you long after the last sip. culinary raspberry leather stuffed with raspberry cream. concepts