Indian Summer

I'm always on the lookout for new cocktail recipes, the more inventive the better. (I recently read an article which said agave nectar is the point of overlap in the venn diagrams of bartenders and vegans).

This recipe originated in the New Delhi-area of India. The specialty ingredient you'll want to track down is tamarind concentrate, available in Indian grocers or the ethnic aisle of large supermarkets (Whole Foods had it). Tamarind are trees which grow in tropical climates (the root of the word is actually Arabic for "Indian date" (tamar hindi)!), and yield a fruit which is widely used in Indian cuisine, as well as traditional medicine. The concentrate is, well, very concentrated, so a little goes a long way. Try stirring leftovers into home-made vegetable curries, rice dishes, chutneys, or soups and stews.

To make the drink, combine 1/4 cup vodka (I always prefer Absolut), 1 tablespoon raw sugar, 3 tablespoons water, 2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lime juice and 1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate; whisk until the sugar dissolves.

Cut 2 orange slices and 2 pineapple slices each into quarters (by slices I assumed the original recipe meant round rings). Set aside.

Place 1/3 cup crushed ice in each of two glasses. Add half of the vodka mixture to each glass, half of the orange quarters and half of the pineapple quarters - this is yummiest served immediately before the ice waters it down. Each drink is 210 calories.

Cost:
vodka $38.10 (a lot more than needed for this recipe, of course...)
lime $1.00
tamarind concentrate $3.39
orange $1.11
pineapple $3.99