Ingredients popular in the north eastern state of India add an interesting twist to your usual tipple.
Assamese Long Island Iced Tea
Ingredients
- 15 ml white spirits (vodka, triple sec, gin, tequila, white rum)
- Assam tea
- Dash of lemon
- Sugar syrup
Method
Put all the white spirits in a cocktail shaker with lime juice and sugar syrup. Give it a brisk shake. Strain the mix into a Tom Collins glass. Add ice and top it up with some Assam tea decoction.
RHCP (Red Hot Caipiroshka Pepper)
Ingredients
- 60 ml pepper vodka
- 1 Bhut Jolokia chilli
- Lemon chunks
- A dash of lemon juice
- Sugar syrup (infused with Bhut Jolokia chilli)
- Soda
Method
Infuse the pepper flavoured vodka with a bhut jolokia chilli by steeping the de-seeded chilli in vodka for 2-4 hours. Put 8 lemon chunks, 15 ml bhut jolokia-infused sugar syrup and 15 ml lemon juice in a hurricane glass. Muddle them, then add vodka and crushed ice. Garnish with the same chilli, sliced vertically. Top with soda.
Assamese Mojito
Ingredients
- 60 ml white rum
- Mint leaves
- Kaji nemu (Assamese lemon) chunks
- Lemon juice
- Sugar syrup
- Soda
Method
Add 8-10 chunks of Assamese lemon in a kilner glass. Add sugar syrup, 8-10 mint leaves, and a dash of lemon juice and muddle them. Add 60 ml white rum, crushed ice and top with soda.
Paan Julep
Ingredients
- 60 ml whisky
- Lemon chunks
- Betel leaves
- Lemon juice
- Brown sugar syrup
Method
Put 8 lemon chunks, one betel leaf (cut in 4 pieces), lemon juice and brown sugar syrup in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Give it a firm shake and pour in an old fashioned glassfilled with crushed ice.
Recipes courtesy Pabitra Das Biswas, mixologist at the Vivanta by Taj Hotel, Guwahati