Happy Hour Recipe Redux | Curry Leaves Mojito

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Do we need a particular season (read as summer) to enjoy a good cocktail? Of course not! Today's recipe - Curry Leaves Mojito is one such tastefully created drink recipe with an Indian twist and which will surely become a showstopper of your next party. It is time to showoff your uber trendy and impressive cocktail making skills with much flair and gusto. Read more to know how..

The Jeelani Diaries at Vivanta by Taj, Begumpet

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My earliest food memory is a time when I dreamt day and night of the luxurious food served in the expansive Hyderabadi Nizami kitchens in their good old days. I was just then finished reading a book on Hyderabad + its rich heritage & history and as a foodie by heart, I was most fascinated about their grand feasts, flair for food and intricately prepared dishes with such complex flavors. The cuisine by itself is meat-centric with various kinds of rustic haleems and kheemas with their khansamas (royal cooks) treated with high regard, often accompanying the Nizams themselves to far away places. Lest you think why so much talk about Nizami food today, let me tell you that today's post is about an exquisite event "The Jeelani Diaries" I attended at Vivanta by Taj, Begumpet and the end of the post has details on how you can experience the same while you are in the city. 

Its Double Cocktail time - Cosmopolitan and Margarita

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Food is fun, cooking is a pleasure, and eating a delicious meal is the wonderful end reward...and if you pair it with a lip smacking cocktail, then its like earning some extra brownie points. Isn't it. :-)

Any Cocktail with Cointreau is just perfect!

Since the time I discovered the goodness of Cointreau and the way it forms a wonderful cocktail concoction, each sip has been a delight to drink and share it with my friends & family.

Today, I experimented two of their cocktail recipes - Cosmopolitan and the very classic Margarita. The preparations is as simple as get the ingredients, shake them with ice and pour into a glass.

Enjoy!

{Recipe} Cosmopolitan

Cosmopolitan - its trendy. its colourful. its just yummilicious

Ingredients:

- 50ml (1.6 fl oz) Vodka
- 25ml (0.8 fl oz) Cointreau
- 20ml (0.6 fl oz) Cranberry juice
- 10ml (0.3 fl oz) Lime juice

Preparation: 

Pour all listed ingredients into a shaker with ice. Serve immediately.

{Recipe} Margarita

The Classic - Margarita

Ingredients:

- 20ml (0.6 fl oz) Cointreau
- 40ml (1.3 fl oz) Tequila
- 10ml (0.3 fl oz) Lime juice

Preparation: Pour all three ingredients into a shaker with ice. Serve immediately.


Try other recipes as well -

Cointreau Diabolic
Cointreaupolitan

Don't forget to grab a bottle of Cointreau in your next visit and try these recipes..

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Healing Foods: January Announcement -

This month's edition of Healing Foods is being guest hosted by Vardhini of Zesty Palette. She chose the theme as 'Cauliflower'. Send in your entries by 31st January. Sadly, the event will see its end by February 2012 and so does the two give aways...that means you have just two more chances to test your luck. :-) Participate today!

until next time,

{Recipe} Cointreau Diabolic and two exciting giveaways to win..

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Robert Fulghum sure knew a thing or two about partying as he once said - "If you want an interesting party sometime, combine cocktails and a fresh box of crayons for everyone.".. I agree too as a holiday-get-together is never complete without a fizzy, signature cocktail as it gets people into a jolly-good mood. That is when the real conversations will start. Isn't it :-)

..there are tons of cocktails that you can make this season, some within a span of minutes. Today's recipe is one such drink which uses Cointreau as its base. There is cranberry juice that renders a gorgeous color, strawberry puree for a nice, fruity feel and tabasco for a hint of spicy note.

{Recipe} Cointreau Diabolic

Ingredients:

50 ml cointreau
30 ml cranberry juice
20 ml lemon juice
10 ml strawberry puree
2 drops of tabasco

Preparation:

Mix in a shaker with ice. Pour into a Martini Glass. Serve.

Do you have any holiday signature cocktail ideas? I would love to know them all about them :-)

Now, coming to the fun part. I have planned two fun exciting give-aways this holiday season for readers in India and US. Sorry for others, but if you want to gift these for somebody in either of these two countries, you are most welcome to enter the giveaway!.

For peeps in India - A chance to win one full-year subscription of BBC Good Food India magazine.

BBC GoodFood is a magazine internationally popular for its devotion to fine dining. The magazine comes with great recipes for home cooking, and entertaining. Their triple-tested hand picked recipes make the magazine a must have for every kitchen. Each recipe is also paired with entertaining food photos and each issue also reveals culinary secrets from Internationally renowned chefs., BBC GoodFood India also comes packed with restaurant reviews and news on India’s dining scene. For the globe-trotting food-lover, they have recommendations for eating well across the world. In short, it is a must-have for every food-lover out there..

For US residents - A chance to win 75th Anniversary Edition of Joy Of Cooking.

The Joy of Cooking -- selected by The New York Public Library as one of the 150 most important and influential books of the twentieth century -- has taught tens of millions of people to cook, helped feed and delight millions beyond that, answered countless kitchen and food questions, and averted many a cooking crisis. JOY remains the greatest teaching cookbook ever written. 

This edition also brings back the encyclopedic chapter Know Your Ingredients. The chapter that novices and pros alike have consulted for over thirty years has been revised, expanded, and banded, making it a book within a book. Cooking Methods shows cooks how to braise, steam, roast, sauté, and deep-fry effortlessly, while an all-new Nutrition chapter has the latest thinking on healthy eating -- as well as a large dose of common sense. In addition to hundreds of brand-new recipes, this JOY is filled with many recipes from all previous editions, retested and reinvented for today's tastes.
 
How to enter these giveaways - very simple..:-)

Everybody - bloggers and non-bloggers can enter these giveaways. All you have to do is leave a comment when you -

1. 'Like' Cooking With Siri on Facebook
2. 'Follow' me on Twitter
3. Subscribe to the Cooking With Siri blog feed
4. RT this giveaway on your Twitter and/or Facebook.
5. Important: While leaving the comment, please mention your location - India or US, so that you are chosen for appropriate giveaways.

Do one or more of the above and leave a comment that you did so. If you are already following me on facebook, twitter or RSS feed, just leave a comment and you are automatically entered in the giveaway!

Giveaway ends on Saturday, December 31st 2011, midnight. Two winners - one from India and one from US will be randomly picked and announced on January 1st 2012.

Wishing you all Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays!

until next time,