This months Mixology Monday is hosted by A Mixed Dram, thank you for hosting! We get a good portion of freedom of imagination and also a challenge here when we are supposed to do something we haven`t done before.
There were a few suggestions: “Try a new base spirit.”, “Use a technique you’ve never used before”, “Been reading about those really cool and wacky purees infused with spices and herbs and other flavourings, or some other cool culinary technique? I challenge you to bring it here next month.”
After some thinking i finally have choosen to make a Indian style cocktail (which i haven`t done before) using some spices i haven`t used before in cocktails, which is fresh turmeric and cumin syrup.
The fragrance from the shaker when everything was muddled was so fresh! the drink tasted fruity-earthy-spicy and fresh. I´m not sure if i felt the taste of the cumin syrup or not, but overall i was pleased with this drink and the bright yellow color was needed in this darkness of the winter that is now. It was really interesting to make a indian style spiced cocktail and i want to make more.
INDIAN SUNSHINE
1 oz gold and 1 oz white rum
0.5 oz fresh lime juice
0.5 oz cumin syrup
1 oz unsweetened pineapple juice
A small splash mango juice
A very small piece of fresh turmeric, be careful so it doesnt overpower the drink.This also will stain everything yellow including your stomach..so use not your nicest wooden muddler. This is what imparts such a lovely yellow sunshine color to the drink.
A small amount fresh cilantro, like a small sprig.
Garnish with fresh curry leaves and a sprig of peppermint.
Muddle a very small piece of fresh turmeric ( remember this spice is strong) with cumin syrup, fresh cilantro and lime juice in a shaker and add the rest of ingredients. Shake over ice and strain into a glass filled with crushed ice. Sprinkle dark cocoa and chilipowder on top.(i used Santa Marias cocoa and chili powder)
CUMIN SYRUP
1 tsp cumin seeds
Equal parts water and raw cane sugar, 1 cup each
Heat cumin seeds in a hot skillet until fragrant. Add the cumin seeds to a pan and add the water and bring to a boil. Then simmer for a little while, about 4-5 minutes and then add the sugar and stir until it`s dissolved.
Remove from heat, cool, strain, bottle. Keep in fridge.
When smelling the roots of the turmeric you can really see that its a member of the ginger family -
( Zingiberaceae), just as the cardamom plant. They all have that same sort of delightful “raw” and “earthy-peppery-citrusy” fragrance. When i used to work in a tropical greenhouse i quite often replanted large cardamom plants and i remember how i enjoyed the fresh smell of their roots.
8 Comments
Tiare,
This is beautiful and exotic. I love the bamboo mat under the cocktail.
I definitely had trouble tasting the coriander syrup I made in the cocktails, but it added an earthy flavor. I wonder if you were to toast the seeds, then bash them up, then simmer, then let it steep for several hours, if you’d get a more concentrated flavor in the syrup?
Yum. Tiare, that sounds fantastic! I’ve used cardamom and coriander syrups before, but never cumin.
Rick, i definetily belive that if you toast the seeds plus adds more seeds than you did before etc it will impart more flavor.
Dietsch, this is the first time i make cumin syrup and i found that it gets a pronounced cumnin flavor but is also quite delicate.
As i wrote in the post i`m not sure if i felt the taste of the syrup or not which probably means it got somewhat overpowered by the strong turmeric.
Cumin syrup would maybe suit lighter flavored cocktails? I need to do more experiments with it.
A wonderful idea to blend the spices of the East Indies with the rums of the West Indies.
The cumin syrup is a great idea, although I think cumin may have a bit of a hard time in a syrup venue. I would love to see you infuse a white rum with cumin, fenugreek, and a touch of star anise. Then use that as the “white rum” portion of the drink.
If you wish to bring the cumin aroma and flavor forward in the drink, then a dusting of fresh ground as a garnish will add a lot of wow factor.
Cheers on another very good and thought inspiring post!
Rum Runner, that was a bunch of interesting ideas!
When i made this little drink i was a bit chocked over how intense the yellow color was, i can just imagine how muy belly was inside after drinking it.Its surely heathy though,turmeric is good for your stomach.
Sounds like a delight. I love cumin so I got to try this one.
Cumin syrup sounds like a great idea! And I love turmeric, definitely going to give that at try in something soon!
Fred, do it!
Stevi, this is the first time i try fresh turmeric and i`m happily “surprised” as to how fresh it is, i sort of knew but still didnt. But use rather less than more.
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[...] spices. I am very interested in seeing how that cumin syrup turned out. Suffice it to say that an Indian Sunrise ain’t your garden variety mango [...]