With summer here in all its glory, and Ramazan just around the corner, cooking, especially baking, isn’t the easiest thing to do. Cold, refreshing and soothing drinks are all that we want to have. So I have been trying some interesting drinks from a combination of things, with both nutritious and mouth-watering results.

The recipe here is of a mocktail using fresh strawberries and lemons for their nutritious value, and I diluted it with a white carbonated drink for some added spark and flavour. In case you don’t know, a mocktail is a non-alcoholic iced drink made with various fruit juices, soft drinks and herbs.

Since everyone has their own preferences, drinks are generally mixed according to the desired taste, therefore, the measurement of things added here can easily vary to suit the tastebuds. Like I added only one tablespoon of sugar initially to keep the calories low, but found it a bit tangy, since both lemon and strawberries are not naturally sweet, and then added another tablespoon at the end. And you can also substitute any ingredient with whatever you fancy or have at home. This recipes makes two large glasses or four medium-sized ones.

Ingredients

• 1 cup strawberries, fresh

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 2 tablespoon sugar syrup or 2 tablespoon sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon black salt

• Any white carbonated drink

• Lemon slices, strawberry slices and mint leaves, sliced, for garnishing

• Ice cubes

Method

Blend the strawberries in a food processor. You can also use frozen strawberries instead of fresh ones to get a more slush-like and chilled drink.

Pour half the mixture in a large glass or Mason jar, like I used. Add sugar syrup, and if you want to keep the calories down, you can skip this. Now add lemon juice, lemon slices, mint leaves and black salt.

Stir. Add the carbonated white drink. Do this slowly as the drink will bubble up on adding the carbonated drink and can spill over. Once the bubbles settle a bit, add some more till almost the tip of the glass. Finally add ice cube and serve immediately.

Published in Dawn, Young World, April 10th, 2021