Preparation Time : 10 minutes
Cooking Time : 20 minutes + setting aside for two hours
Serving : 7-8 glasses
Description
In the recent have been seeing a lot of dishes being made with the hibiscus flower. First a master class by chef sanjeev kapoor in master chef India and followed by many fellow foodie bloggers posting recipes. Having lots of these flowers at my in- laws place, came up with an idea of making a sharbet using the hibiscus flower which will be of good use during the month of Ramadan. Went with what ever my inner instincts told me.made the sharbat and it was aromatic, thick, slippery, sticky and syrupy having all that takes to look like a store brought sharbet syrup. The addition of tulsi leaves did help to take the sharbat to another level. The natural light hue from the hibiscus flower was so inviting but when diluted with water the colour did look a bit faded. So I was forced to add a few drops of pink food colour. I was surprised as there is so much we can do with our every day local produce where even with in a 100 km radius of a city subtle variations can occur. A sure eye opening experience that has widened my culinary journey for sure.
Ingredients
Ingredients | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Tulsi leaves | 1/2 cup |
| Hibiscus flowers | 10 -15 remove the middle stock of the flower |
| Water | 10 cups |
| Sugar | 6 cups |
| Cardamom powder | 1 teaspoon |
| Dry ginger ( chukku in Tamil ) | 1/4 inch piece powdered |
| Salt | a pinch |
| pink food colour | a few drops (optional) |
Method
- Boil tulsi leaves, cleaned and washed hibiscus flowers and 5 cups of water together until reduced to half and the fragrance of the flower and tulsi has been infused into the water.
- Remove and mix in cardamom powder and dry ginger powder. Mix well and cool completely.
- Boil sugar and remaining water together until sugar dissolves and gets to a slightly thick syrup. Cool completely.
- Remove scum from cooled sugar syrup. Mix sugar syrup with drained hibiscus- tulsi water and mix well with a pinch of salt.
- Strain after two hours . Store in the refrigerator and use when needed. Keeps well for a month when refrigerated.
To serve
Mix 1/2 teaspoon lime juice with sharbat syrup to taste, ice cubes and one glass of chilled water. Mix well. Garnish with chopped tulsi leaves and serve.
