A Lemony Twist On Fresa Colada

December 18, 2016 by Yousuf Bawany

What a typical Londoner might call a bright sunny day, we, the residents of Dubai, call a well-deserved break from the blistering summer sun that beats (mercilessly) down upon us for a good six months each year (five-and-a-half if we’re lucky). I personally love the Dubai winter, especially because it brings with it, a plethora of fresh seasonal fruits from the Middle eastern region, the most noteworthy of which are the strawberries flown in daily from Egypt.

I couldn’t resist myself from buying a kilogram of these tantalizing berries when I last went grocery shopping. Needless to say, we got tired of eating all these strawberries pretty soon, so I thought of making a refreshing drink out of it. I added some coconut water and lemon syrup to compliment the sweet and sour berries and the drink turned out better than expected.

Here’s the recipe if you want to replicate it at home. It serves two people.

Ingredients

3 cups fresh coconut water (I use yellow Srilankan coconuts as they are a bit on the sweet side)
6-8 medium strawberries
2 tablespoon lemon syrup (alternately, you can use 1 tsp lemon juice and 2 tsp honey)
For garnish:
- 2 medium strawberries (coarsely chopped)
- 3-4 mint leaves
- 5-6 ice cubes

Method

Wash the strawberries and remove the leafy part; add them to a blender
Add coconut water and lemon syrup the blender and mix well
Pour the juice into mason jars and add in some ice
Top the jars with chopped strawberries and mint
Serve immediately

Hope you enjoy this drink as much as I did making it. I’d appreciate your comments if you do try this at home!

Culinary Escapades: A Photo-blog

June 10, 2016 by Yousuf Bawany

Venue: Liwan and Shayan Resturants at Al-Ghurair Rayhaan by Rotana. Enjoy! 🙂

Jammin’ Juice Lollies

May 6, 2016 by Yousuf Bawany

Who doesn’t love ice lollies? It’s easy to buy one from a supermarket freezer if you’re OK feeding artificial content (refined sugars, colours and flavours) to your kids. I prefer making one of these insanely delicious coolers, filling the lolly moulds with whatever’s left over. Three hours and a thousand are-they-done-yets later, I have happy smiling kids devouring refreshing/hygienic lollies. These especially come in handy during the summer months and are ideal as an after-school treat for kids.

You can try experimenting with other fruit juice combinations; some that work well together include:

Orange and mango
Orange and carrot
Pineapple and coconut
Lemon and honey
Mint and lime
Apple and pomegranate
Raspberry, strawberry and blueberry
Watermelon and strawberry

Coolers To Beat The Intense Summer Heat

April 20, 2016 by Yousuf Bawany

It’s that dreaded time of the year again. We are on the verge of summer and we all know what that means; the scorching sun mercilessly beating down upon us. The Pakistani summer is characterized by an exponential increase in the sale of all things cool and refreshing, like ice-cream, kulfi (a frozen milk-based treat with nuts and saffron) and juices. The number of juice-walas (read, roadside juice stalls) propping up all across the country is directly proportional to the ever-soaring temperatures. These juice-walas serve all kinds of tempting (albeit unhygienic) concoctions using popular ingredients like watermelons, lemons and rooh-afza (a Pakistani drink concentrate).

Commuting to work during summers is a chore most people detest, and there’s nothing more enticing than the call of the juice-wala screaming ‘Thanda Thanda Limo Pani. Sirf Panch Rupay, Panch Rupay, Panch Rupay!’ (Cool, cool lemonade for just five rupees). Please do not pay heed to the juice-wala, no matter how thirsty you may be. The contents of the juice are questionable at best and you never know when, if ever, the glass was last washed. Instead, pick up some fresh produce on your way home and make one of these five lip-smacking coolers to satisfy your summer craving.

Watermelon-Strawberry Cooler

Ingredients:

300 grams watermelon (just the red fleshy part)
1½ teaspoon lemon juice
4-5 strawberries (use frozen if fresh are not available)

Kiwi-Lemon Chiller

Ingredients:

3 kiwis (slightly ripe)
1½ teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoon honey
½ cup water

Pina Colada

Ingredients:

½ pineapple (use 4-5 slices of canned pineapple if fresh isn’t available)
½ cup of coconut water

Lime-Mint Mojito

Ingredients:

½ tablespoon lime juice
4-5 mint leaves
½ tablespoon honey
1 cup water

Apple-Pomegranate Cocktail

Ingredients:

2 apples
1 pomegranate

For all the recipes listed above, use the method listed below:

Put all the ingredients in a blender and mix well; if you have a juicer/extractor or a hand-blender, those would work too
Use a fine-mesh sieve to remove the pulp from the juice; press on the pulp using a spoon to get all the juice out
Keep the juice in the freezer for at least 1 hour
Add a handful of crushed ice before serving

These drinks are an absolute hit at dinner parties, so why not be the juice-wala your guests desperately need you to be? Remember: with great power (read, recipes), comes great responsibility!

Enjoy!

p.s. Each of the recipes listed above takes a maximum of 5 minutes to prepare and yields approx. 250 to 300 ml sufficient for one large or two small servings, depending on how thirsty you are.