Sarahs Kitchen Travels

Category: Drinks

A collection of free drinks recipes from Sarah’s Kitchen Travels by Sarah Gurung

  • Chai Hot chocolate

    Makes approximately 300 grams
    Home made spiced hot chocolate mix

    Winter nights in the Himalayas can leave you cold to your bones and wanting hot chocolate. In the early days hot chocolate simply wasn’t available, what we had was bars of the worst chocolate known to man. Nuclear fusion couldn’t get that stuff to melt. What I did discover was that smashed in a pestle and mortar with powdered milk, spices and rum transformed the chocolate into a paste that was surprisingly good as hot chocolate. This is the updated version that is, thankfully, a lot less work, rum and a dollop of cream optional.

    Ingredients

    • 100 grams | 3 ½ oz good quality dark chocolate
    • 50 grams | 2 oz good quality white chocolate
    • 1 ½ tablespoons Chai mountain masala or cinnamon
    • ½ tablespoon cornflour

    Method

    Break the chocolate into small pieces and place in a food processor with the masala (cinnamon if you’re using it) and cornflour and blitz until you have a mixture that is as powdery as you can get it. Store in an airtight container.

    To make the hot chocolate 

    Place 2 tablespoons chocolate mix into a cup or mug. Heat the milk until just boiling and pour over the chocolate stir well until all the chocolate has melted. Add sugar to taste.

    The amount of chocolate you add to your milk is down to personal preference, I have said 2 tablespoons for a starting point, please adjust the amount to suit you.

  • Elderflower cordial

    Makes just under 1 ½ litres | 3 pints of cordial
    elderflower cordial the taste of early summer

    Driving through central Nepal on the way back from a rafting trip I spotted some elderflowers and had to collect some. They made a passable cordial and massively improved a ‘local’ gin and tonic.

    Ingredients

    • 20 fresh elderflower heads, rinsed and picked over to get rid of any bugs
    • 1 lemon
    • 25 g citric acid
    • 750 ml | 3 cups boiling water
    • 750 g | 1 lb 10 ½ oz white sugar

    Method

    Carefully peel the zest from the lemon trying not to get any white pith in the zest, then peel or cut the white pith from the lemons and throw it away. Roughly chop the lemon flesh. Place the sugar, citric acid, and lemon in to a large bowl and pour the boiling water over them, stir until the sugar has dissolved. Leave the mixture to cool down to blood temperature, before adding the elder flower heads. Cover with a lid or cloth and leave the mixture to infuse for 24 hours.

    After 24 hours strain the elderflower mixture through a muslin cloth or jelly bag, and bottle in sterilized bottles. Your cordial is ready to drink straight away and will keep for a few weeks in the fridge.

    Serve diluted with water or sparkling water to taste.

    Tip

    If you want to keep your cordial out of the fridge and for a longer time, add ¼ of a well crushed Camden tablet, make sure the tablet is completely dissolved before you bottle your cordial. Camden tablets are readily available from home brewing and wine making suppliers they contain sulphites so check for allergies before you use them.

  • Strawberry Lassi

    Makes approximately 450 ml | 1 pint
    creamy, irresistible strawberry and cointreau lassi

    Lassi, the go to cooling summer drink, just visit Indrachowk in Kathmandu and check out the queues at the lassi wallah stalls. Until recently lassi wasn’t that well known in the UK.  It was the exotic drink parents would get for kids in the restaurant and first choice whenever I wanted cool mum points from my kids friends.  Then one day for no apparent reason, other than why not?, I started putting alcohol in my lassi and have never looked back.

    Ingredients

    • 5 medium ripe strawberries
    • 2 tablespoons Cointreau, Adult optional extra
    • 120 ml | ½ cup milk
    • 120 ml | ½ cup plain unsweetened live yoghurt
    • 3 to 4 ice cubes
    • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar or to taste

    Method

    Place all the ingredients in a liquidiser and blitz for 2 to 3 minutes, check the sweetness and add more sugar if you prefer. Strain into a glass and serve.

    For a thicker Lassie use 240 ml | 1 cup of yoghurt and omit the milk