18 June,2017 12:47 PM IST | Mumbai | Anju Maskeri
When bartender Binny Dadhwal was asked to make a martini at a friend's home, all the ammo he had at hand was some gin and a few green chillies with a bund of cilantro lying in the fridge
Necessity is the mother of invention, they say. So, a couple of years ago, when bartender Binny Dadhwal was asked to make a martini at a friend's home, all the ammo he had at hand was some gin and a few green chillies with a bund of cilantro lying in the fridge. "I agreed, and to my surprise, it turned out to be a rich, potent drink," says Dadhwal, founder of Flaming Trio, a professional bartending company with operations in India, Thailand and Dubai. Since then, Dadhwal has experimented with whatever fridge ingredients he can lay his hands on - right from beetroot and spinach to fruits like peaches, plums and watermelon. "I think the whackiest one was with Lebanese pickle and apple cider. I had prepared it in Dubai at a party," he says.
We ask him to whip up one for us. This time, he uses kale, cucumber, stevia leaves as natural sweetner along with gin. "Gin martini is excellent, although the more popular variety is the one with vodka. Gin is appetising and has medicinal properties, which makes it a better choice (for me)," he says. Dadhwal takes us through the process. Just take 15 ml kale juice, 10 ml cucumber juice and 40 ml gin and a few stevia leaves. Put ice and soda water in a martini glass to chill. Pour the contents of the shaker into the glass and double strain the juice.
Using the same technique, he makes the Coffee Barbeucue Martini. "Here, you take 10 ml barbecue sauce, a pinch of coffee, 50 ml gin and stevia leaves," he says.
Dadhwal, however, offers a word of caution. "Remember, don't have the whole drink in one go. It's concentrated and has high potency. It's a drink you need to sip and savour slowly."
