Meals On Speed

As the Mayet family’s ‘Designated Drinks Maker’ (it was just yesterday that I was officially conferred the title by my sister-in-law Naqiyah), I look forward to Eid celebrations and family get-togethers as a chance to party-up the tablescape with interesting drink combinations.

This Eid I wanted to honour Summer by using whole fruits in my preparations. Not only do the make a great base, blended frozen fruit add a wonderfully textured mouth-feel to your mixed drinks.   

About two weeks ago, a generous friend invited a group of us to raid the bounteous boughs of the mulberry trees in her backyard. I poured a simple sugar syrup (mildly spiced with star anise, cinnamon and cardamom – inspired by Ayesha’s marvelous mulberry pancake topping) over my pickings and froze them.

To prepare the drink, I first liquidized the frozen berries with a little bit of Rose’s Black Cherry cordial.

I then topped this up with a Lime and Lemongrass sugar-free fizzy from Woolworths. Served ice-cold, it made for a refreshing and not-too-sweet sipper.     

For the Litchi Crush, I decanted two cans of preserved litchis and froze the fruit along with its syrup.

I blended this into a slush, topped up the mixture with soda water and a Litchi-flavoured fizzy from Woolworths and added mint for additional cool-cred.

Cross-blogged on www.saaleha.com/mealsonspeed