Cocktails With A Desi Twist: Festival Edition

Best Indian Cocktails To Welcome The Festive Spirit

It’s almost mid-October and light pollution is at its best. Diwali is right around the corner and it’s festive everywhere. And the people are just so excited that it’s driving twenty somethings like me who live away from home, crazy. If you are someone who appreciates offbeat festivity like I do, you’ll enjoy the following cocktails with festive tweak. Also, they will last all the way till summer.

The one with Paan

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Mid Day

Paan is such an integral item to locals throughout North India, and it’s a part of most of our celebrations as well. Paying an ode to this culturally relevant Indian delicacy, here’s a cocktail recipe that will tingle your taste buds.

Ingredients:

  • 2 fresh paan leaves
  • 4 cardamom
  • 1 spoon gulkand
  • 45 ml vodka
  • 15 ml Sambuca
  • 1 Maraschino cherry

Instructions:

  • Muddle the paan leaf, gulkand and cardamom in a cocktail shaker
  • Add vodka and sambuca to this concoction. Add ice and shake well
  • Fine strain this into a glass filled with ice and paan leaves. Garnish with cardamom and cherry

Boozy Shikanji

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Veg Recipes Of India

Another quintessential Indian homemade drink, Shikanji has been a part of our life for so long, yet we never realized its potential to become an easy cocktail.  All it requires is some vodka and ice and tada, you have a beautiful boozy drink that will make you feel at home.

Ingredients:

  • 60 ml vodka
  • 30 ml lime juice
  • 45 ml sugar syrup
  • 8-10 mint leaves
  • 1 tbsp Shikanji salt
  • 6 ice cubes

Instructions:

  • Add all the ingredients in a blender with ice and blend
  • Pour into a glass, top up to taste with water and serve

Curry Scotch Smash

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Chicago Reader

Don’t get grossed out, there is no amount of curry gravy in it. The only similarity between a curry and this drink is the amazing flavour. And it’s super easy to make!

Ingredients:

  • 60ml blended scotch
  • 25ml lemon juice
  • 25ml curry simple syrup
  • Handful of mint

Method:

  • Combine, shake and strain

Aam Panna Cocktail

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Veg Recipes of India

I get that it’s not mango season, but we all love Aam Panna and with an Aam Panna-flavoured vodka concoction, you have the best of adulthood and childhood.

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium raw mango
  • 2 pinches black salt
  • Salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cardamom (elaichi) powder
  • 1/2 teaspoonblack pepper powder
  • Saffron – few strands
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 30 ml vodka

Method:

  • Mix the ingredients well in a shaker
  •  Add crushed ice, strain and serve

Jaljeera Cocktail

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Whisk Affair

Another drink that makes us all nostalgic is Jaljeera. A boozy twist on it makes for the most fun cocktail ever. It’s so simple to make that you’ll cry tears of joy.

 Ingredients:
  • 35 ml vodka
  • 200 ml club soda
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 1 pinch Jaljeera powder

Instructions:

  • Add vodka, club soda, lemon juice, and jaljeera powder to a glass full of ice
  • Stir mixture well

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