Strawberries, strawberries and more strawberries everywhere — I have never seen so many strawberries being sold for so long here as it happened for the last few month. Well, it gives us just more reasons to try more recipes with these cute red little sweethearts that are a lovely combination of sweet and tangy.

It’s a drink I tried this time, since drinks are a major obsession during these hot Ramazan days. Drinks with fresh fruits are so refreshing at Iftar time, and just right to give a boost of energy in no time. This time I combined strawberries with pineapple juice, which was not of the fresh fruit as we don’t get fresh pineapples these days, and hardly ever. What a pity! But no worries, for any bottled, canned or packet pineapple juice will do, just follow the instructions and make a big glass of it.

I also used our favourite red sherbet because I don’t find strawberries very sweet. In fact, they are a bit sour, or somewhat tangy; and also because I just love to have this red sherbet at Iftar.

If you are particular about your drink being very clear and smooth, then you can sieve the blended strawberries and just use the juice, but then you will have to almost double the quantity of the fruit. Now let’s see how it is made, it’s very simple!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup frozen strawberries

• 1 glass pineapple juice, any canned or packet one

• 4 tablespoons red sherbet

• 4 tablespoons sugar syrup, or to taste

• Mint leaves and strawberries for garnishing

• Ice cubes

Method

In a food processor or blender, blend the frozen strawberries. Pour into glasses until half-full. Add two tablespoons of red sherbet in each glass, two spoons of sugar syrup (or you can skip this if you want to keep the calories down), and now fill the glass with pineapple juice and stir. Finally add ice cubes, mint leaves and a few strawberry pieces to decorate the top.

This combination of ingredients was my preference, you can use your own combination of things, such as black salt, some other fruit juice, lemon slices, etc.

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 8th, 2021