It’s wine o’ clock

It’s the season for mulled wine, and taking cue, a home chef from Andheri shares how you can brew your own

Kitchen Superstar: Recipe of the week from Mumbai’s hottest chef

In the 2nd century AD, Romans started heating wine to battle the winds of winter. Eventually, as they travelled across Europe, the warm brew found a flavoured avatar with healing spices, or so the legend goes. And today, far away from Europe, mulled wine is synonymous with winter, and Christmas of course, even in Mumbai. Andheri-based home chef Seema Pinto, who has been making her own brew for five years, shares that the fruity aroma and tang of mulled wine is what makes it such a hit. “I first tasted it about a decade ago, when travelling across Europe. We had mulled wine in various countries at Christmas markets. It is usually served warm or pretty hot, and you sip it slowly, allowing the spices and the wine to warm you up during the cold winters. I love the faint hint of cinnamon and star anise,” shares Pinto, who also makes large batches for orders ahead of Christmas.

Seema Pinto

Mulled wine

Ingredients
. 1 litre semi dry red wine 
. 25 to 30 gm brown sugar
. 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
. 1 tbsp molasses
. 50 gm cranberries
. 1 fresh orange
. 1 apple, sliced
. 2 cinnamon sticks (one inch)
. 2 star anise
. 1 full vanilla bean
. 3 cloves
. 3 black peppercorns

Method
Pour the red wine into a heavy-bottomed steel vessel. Add brown sugar and the rest of the ingredients. Squeeze the juice from the orange into the vessel; add the rind and the fruit. Slice the apple and add it in. Warm the mixture over medium heat for about five to seven minutes, stirring slowly. When you see the mixture breaking into small bubbles, reduce the heat to a minimum; do not boil, let it simmer. Continue cooking over very low heat for seven to 10 minutes. Switch off the gas, and leave the wine to cool and soak in the spices and juices for at least six to eight hours. Strain the mix with a colander; use a steel mesh strainer with a muslin cloth over it, so that there is minimum residue. Serve warm or chilled depending on the Mumbai weather. If serving warm, garnish with a stick of cinnamon before serving, as it will infuse more flavour. Store in air-tight glass bottles; it can last for over six months, if refrigerated.

Order in

. Seema Pinto is taking orders for 750-ml bottles till December 15.
Call 9821136661 
Cost Rs 2,400

. The Table and Mag St Bread Co are offering bottles of 750 ml.
Call 9137126325 
Cost Rs 3,000

. Try a DIY mulled wine kit by Craft Cocktail Company.
Log on to @craft.cocktail.company on Instagram  
Cost Rs 1,299

. For a taste of Goan mulled wine, try Sylvia Rodrigues’s version that she will ship to Mumbai.
Call 9819649510 
Cost Rs 1,000 onwards for 750 ml

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