This is the first of the Indian themed cocktails. It is take on the Purple Ruby. It has pomegranate juice (to give it the Indian touch, used Spicy Pomegranate juice), Honey liqueur (Barenjager), Lime juice and for Vodka, I used the Smoke Lab Classic Vodka from Punjab in India!!

Came out nice!

DJ sent me this recipe from an Instagram post. It basically has some Indian achar, vodka and ginger beer.

I used Bedekar’s garlic achar with mixed results. Sharmila did not like it at all. I thought it was just okay. The biggest challenge is the oil in the achar that floats to the top. The initial sips are very oily to the lips. (you can see the red oil floating in the picture)

Tomorrow, I will try with a different achar and see if that makes a difference.

This is a personal concoction. Hence the difficult to pronounce name. Well, this has two parts.

The first is “Kairi Panha” – also known as “Aam Panna“. “Aam Panna” is a juice made of raw mangoes with some cumin seeds, rock salt, sugar and mint leaves added to it. This is a very refreshing and popular drink during the tropical summers of India.

Added 2 parts of that to one part of Cachaca. This is the most popular distilled spirit in Brazil made from fermented sugarcane. It is also the base alcohol for Brazil’s national drink – Caipirinha.

And to that I added some “bhaja masala” made by Sharmila. This is cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fennel seeds and then a bit of cardamom – dry roasted and then grounded to powder.

That was a perfect pick me up for the evening.

This is raw mango juice with a lot of Indian spices in it, vodka and some lime juice. Since I find the aftertaste of raw mango to be a little bitter, I added a tea spoonful of Triple Sec to cut the bitterness.

Just to change up from all those Paan series cocktails, went with a Single Malt version. Used Rampur Single Malt Whisky from India with King ginger liqueur.

I picked this recipe up from the website of Jaan (maker of Paan liqueur). I changed it up to make a completely Indian ingredients drink. This has Gin (I used Jaisalmer Gin), Coconut Water (from India), Paan liqueur and lime juice.

The aroma of Paan is unforgettable.

As much as I liked it, I think this will go well with some anis based liqueur – like sambuca or licor beirao. Will try that next time.

Lime juice, Soho Lychee liqueur, Tito’s vodka and lychee juice from the Indian store.

Found a unique ingredient – Spicy Tamarind Vodka!! Made by Smirnoff. I am sure my friends from India would love it. Made the first cocktail from a suggestion in Smirnoff’s website – Spicy Mangorita!

Used Tajin salt to rim the glass and 5 ounces of mango juice, quarter of lime juice and one and a half ounces of spicy tamarind vodka for the drink. Came out fairly well!!

Continuing with the India themed cocktails.

Muddle a couple curry leaves with a few drops of lemon juice with a muddler. Add ice, Himalayan pink salt, 3-4 ounces of rasam (strain out everything other than the liquid) and 2 ounces of vodka. Shake and pour in a cocktail glass. Spring some dried and powdered cumin seeds from the top in the end.

Sharp to the tongue and very flavorful.