Make Your Own Mixers With Ingredients Available In Your Kitchen
What do you do when you feel like fixing yourself a cocktail? Well, you keep the alcohol and the ingredients handy and get mixing! Tadaa, you’re done. But let’s make cocktail making a little more exciting. How you ask? Make the ingredients too!
Here are the 3 ingredients (drinks) you can make at home to spruce up your cocktail.
1. Ginger ale
A little bit of ginger ale makes everything better, don’t you agree? It is one of the easiest drinks you can make at home.
Ingredients you need
1/2 cup peeled and chopped ginger
1 cup water
4 inches lemon peel
1 litre soda
4 tablespoon sugar
8 ice cubes
Method:
Heat a pan over high flame and pour water along with chopped ginger and lemon peel. Let it boil. Now, turn the flame low and add sugar in it. Let it simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Once, the sugar is completely dissolved, remove the pan and strain the mixture over a large bowl and let it cool down. When it reaches the room temperature, pour in a bottle and screw the lid tightly. Refrigerate it for at least an hour.Take out and pour the ginger drink into a glass and add soda. Put ice cubes and it’s done!
2. Beet Shrub
I was curious to try this one out only because of Dwight Schrute, and I must tell you that it’s not for everybody, unless you like your drinks to be savoury and earthy. I like savoury drinks, so here it is.
Ingredients you need are:
5 beets, cut into small chunks
150 ml apple cider vinegar
150 ml distilled white vinegar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. black peppercorns
1 tsp. kosher salt
Method
Add the beets and both vinegars to a blender and purée. Using a rubber spatula, press the purée through a mesh strainer into a medium bowl. Add the beet-vinegar liquid, sugar, peppercorns and salt to a nonreactive container; cover and let steep for 1 day at room temperature. Taste for seasoning; if you prefer the taste to be more peppery, let the mixture steep for another day. Strain through a mesh strainer and bottle; store in the refrigerator (the flavor will fully develop after a week), and use within 2 months.
3. Coconut Cream
Well, it takes a lot of tools to make this one. But, patience is the key to fresh and creamy coconut cream!
Ingredients you need are
1 whole fresh coconut
60ml cup water
Pinch of kosher salt
30ml granulated sugar
30ml maple syrup
Method
Locate the three “eyes” at the top of the coconut. With a nail or corkscrew, carefully puncture a hole through the softest of the three eyes. Drain the liquid inside the coconut into a glass. With a hammer, firmly but carefully hit around the coconut’s equator. Continue to rotate the coconut to hit around its entire circumference.
After several rounds it will split in two. Place the coconut in the freezer for 15 minutes. This will help separate the flesh inside from the hard outer shell. With a paring knife, gently remove the white coconut flesh.
In a blender, pulse the coconut flesh with 60ml water until it resembles a coarse pulp. Scoop the pulp into a cheesecloth-lined colander and strain into a large bowl.
Gather the corners of the cheesecloth, and use your hands to wring the cheesecloth-wrapped coconut, extracting as much liquid as possible. Pour the coconut liquid into a small saucepan and bring just to a boil. Stirring with a wooden spoon, reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and maple syrup. Pour into a clean glass jar and let it rest overnight at room temperature to allow the cream of coconut to separate from the coconut oil. Scoop off the cream and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.
Now that you’ve got all you need, time to pour yourself a cocktail with Smirnoff No.21 vodka!
*Drink Responsibly
