Booze-free Sangria

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So one of my main goals for 2023 was to delve deeper into the drinks side of cuisines. Of course, I’m not aiming to turn this blog into the Bible of baristas or something but I do want to put substantial amount of time exploring about drinks. I don’t want to use the word research here because that makes me sound like an alchemist trying to poison someone, not something I can casually do some afternoon.

A drink to enjoy cooking?

I recently saw Florence Pugh cook garlic crostini’s on YouTube and she actually made a dry martini just so that she could drink it while making the dish. While I found that really hilarious at first, I realised that it was more about enjoying the experience of making the simplest of foods, which in her case was drinking vodka. It did spark an idea for a new series on this blog, where, in addition to the planned dish, I also shared a recipe for an easy drink that you could make beforehand to drink while you were making the dish. Let me know what you think of that heehee. (2 year later spoiler: No one did)

Sangria.

Sangria! It’s actually a drink I came across on Instagram and it couldn’t have been more fun to make. Sangria, in simple terms is like a red wine slushie, where you freeze red wine with some fruit juice and orange liqueur overnight and blitz it in a blender the next day to get this thick, divine, boozy drink. Huh. Fancy way of naming an upgraded kids' delight. Now, you know me, all ‘bout making things so that they can be eaten/ drunk by everyone (and harder for myself), so I decided to make a booze-free version of sangria.

I know, and so did my friend point this out: it’s completely ridiculous. It wouldn’t be called sangria, if it didn’t have red wine in it! It’s like calling something a chicken-free chicken burger, which I totally understand. My answer to that though?

“Oh well. I’m going to do it anyways.”


Instead of using red wine, I’m going to be using some concentrated pomegranate juice with soda, along with some tart orange juice to mimic the flavors. And, just before blitzing it, I thought of adding some frozen strawberries and lemon zest for some more depth. The rest of the procedure remains unchanged!

Sangria, but no booze.

Makes about 3 servings:

  • 1 1/4 cup pomegranate/grape juice
  • 1 cup club soda
  • 3 oranges
  • 1 lemon
  • 2-3 strawberries + more for garnish
  • Basil

In a deep loaf pan (or deep-set tray) pour and mix the juice of you choice with soda and juice of 3 oranges. Cover with cling-film and freeze overnight.

Scrape the frozen mixture with a fork and transfer the shavings to a food processor. Add some finely chopped strawberries and zest and juice of a lemon. Blitz in short spurts to get the consistency of a smooth slushy.

Garnish with more strawberries and basil leaves (drink straight away).




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Tea Traditions
Around the World


POST | KAHWA: KASHMIRI TEA

Let’s talk about tea

Whether it’s a whole ceremony at your home or a reason to argue over who is going to make it on weekend mornings, tea rules: it’s a universal beverage. The big drink.

Whenever I think of afternoon tea, or just tea in general, one of the first things that comes to my mind is a cup of milk tea surrounded by a table loaded with finger sandwiches, biscuits, scones, jam, cream and Victoria sponge cake; British tea. That’s what I think of tea as. But this visual could be different for you. You might think of masala chai from India, matcha tea ceremonies if you’re from Japan, the first time you drank çai on your visit to Turkey, some tea bags or just some soggy tea-drenched toast.

Whatever it is, tea is a huge tradition all over the world, and just like truth, it has different versions: British afternoon tea, Indian milk tea, Burmese laphet and Moroccan mint tea, to name a few.

What are some of your tea traditions?



Food for thought,

by food, for food.


A lot of my friends ask me where I get my ideas from. Many just assume that I’m a culinary genius and I pick ideas from my brain just as someone would go apple-picking. But that’s far from the truth. You do NOT know what other salt has fallen into my failed dishes.

I get all of my ideas from other food: cookbooks, recipes on Instagram and food blogs of chefs and MasterChef contestants (especially Beccy from Canada Season 5, Fred and Nick from US Season 10 and Suu from US Season 11) whom I admired in their seasons. Many of my findings act as a catalyst for new ideas or help me steer existing dishes in the right direction. Sometimes I’d just want to be a normal foodie and try other’s dishes because, well, I’m hungry. In short, food for my new ideas, by other chef’s food for MY food on this blog. Quite the analogy.


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