FAQ for uk.food+drink.indian Newsgroup
Faq Index	Drinks	Topics Index

The Questions

• General

  1. I'm currently off the booze (giving the liver a break until Christmas), and so what sort of 'adult' soft drinks are out there that go well with Indian food?
  2. What's the best drink after a really hot curry?

• Beers/Lagers

  1. Which are the Indian style beers and lagers?
  2. Which of the beers and lagers sold in Indian restaurants are actually brewed in India?

• Lassi

  1. Does anyone knows how to make the famous Lassi I know there is yoghurt in it?
  2. What are the flavourings for Lassi?

  Tea

  1. Anyone have a good Chai recipe?
  2. Bloody hells bells!! I'm glad I started with a very big mug!
     I could see the chai pouring into the sink, and the mug sitting where the chai should be but I had no control over it at all. It was pure luck that quite a lot of it fell into the mug.
     I've seen this chai pouring thingy done on UKfood and while it didn't look easy, I thought I'd have at least some control over it. Once you start pouring you can't stop coz you'll only have to start aiming again and lose even more tea. Back the other way was a little better (bigger target), then back into the mug and I was getting the hang of it. A couple more times and it went very frothy and quite creamy. (Because of the half milk content?). Can't really taste the cardomom. Maybe a little more next time. Overall...not bad at all, considering I normally dislike tea with a passion
  3. Several years ago my SO got a recipe for this from a tea newsgroup but lost the recipe. he tried searching deja (at that time) for it but was unsuccessful. I have tried several spice blends for tea and Nepal Masala tea but he says the taste is not the same.
     Anyone have a recipe like the great tea you get only in Indian restaurants?
  4. I once had tea made in a samavar with hot coals in the middle, which imparted a smoky component to the flavour. Now if anyone in UK can reproduce anything close to Kashmiri tea I'd be interested.

top

The Answers

• General

  1. Here's my findings: Most soft drinks are far too sweet to drink with a proper meal. Tesco's 'Finest' range - the White Lemon and Grape Drink - served chilled, goes brilliantly with curry. Their red version (redcurrant and something ) is too sweet. The dry version of Aqua Libra is good with spicy stuff, too - but best of all are Twinings Fruit Infusions (yes, I know they're hot, but they work!) - try the Mandarin and Lychee, the Pear and Guava, and the Orange, Mango and Cinnamon.
  2. Chilled milk or Lassi a yoghurt based drink with various flavours.

  top

• Beers/Lagers

  1. 1. Balti Beer (Aston Manor Brewery)
     2. Bangla
     3. Cobra
     4. Kingfisher
     5. Lal Toofan
     6. Sunny Beaches
     7. UB Export
     8. UCB (Ultimate Curry Beer)
        Banks's, available bottled (not bottle-conditioned). It's very good with spicy food, but the flavour's rather aggressive and unbalanced if drunk on its own. As you might expect.
  2. 1. Kingfisher and Cobra are both brewed under license in the UK. I don't know when that started with Kingfisher, but Cobra started being brewed here when the label changed from cream and green to gold and green, and you couldn't get it on draught yet. Funnily enough, I still find the Cobra (but not the Kingfisher) eminently drinkable, so whoever is brewing it seems to know what they're about.
        You can get Lal Toofan in some restaurants, but that's draught, so I assume it's UK brewed too.
        I've also had some palatable bottled beer, with a red/black label, called Ksomething-or-other - K9? K7? Can't remember, but it was definitely an import, and fairly potent, too.
        I've also seen an imported Sri Lankan stout somewhere; that was about 8% alcohol by volume (abv) too, IIRC.
     2. UB Export, (United breweries) Damn good beer (Lager) Factory situated in Bangalore, South India.

  top

• Lassi

  1. Put yoghurt, salt, cold water and ice in a blender and whiz it for a few seconds.
     Proportions to taste, but you could try 3 parts yoghurt to one part water and 1 part ice to start with.
  2. 1. Chopped fresh mint
     2. Leave out the salt and wizz some fresh peeled mango (or banana or apple) with the yoghurt before adding the ice and water.

  top

• Tea

  1. 1. Chai.Put quarter mug of milk and three quarters of a mug of water in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil, add the amount of sugar you normally take in a mug and a tea bag and to enhance the flavour, crush a cardamom and just add two or three seeds.
     2. Lower the heat and simmer for a minute or two, take the teabag out when you think the tea is strong enough for you.
     3. Now take the saucepan and a mug to the kitchen sink, pour the tea out from the sauce pan into the mug from as high as you can, do this a couple of times, you will find that the tea is frothy and you will find it tastes very different when everything is boiled together.
     4. It is important that you pour the drink out by the yard ! Don't skip this bit, there is a very good reason for this apart from cooling it down, take my word for it. I don't really want to go into it unless you can understand rocket science !!
  2. Well not bad for a first timer to catch half a cuppa, some more practise needed. Its got to be done otherwise its not the same. When you boil water you are driving all the dissolved gasses you would normally find in water, which gives the water taste, boiled water is also known as flat water, so for the water to get back the gasses it had lost, you have to pour it through air ! It makes sense doesn't it? Use two sauce pans to pour from height, if you are apprehensive.
  3. Click here for a recipe for Masala Tea
  4. Yes, now thats the ultimate recipe for making the best tea, in fact the best anything. If you don't mind a bit of inconvenience, then find three bricks and make a crude stove with them to burn wood, make a fire and keep your pot on the bricks, and make your tea, this will impart the smoke flavour you mention. And incidentally this is the best way for making Biriyani too.

top

Faq Index	Search Facility	Topics Index