Friday, December 18, 2009

10 Sharbat families

One Page Cookbooks
10 Sharbat families
All recipes copyrighted. No reproduction / commercial use without permission. Siramki@Gmail.com

Master Recipe : Bring a cup ( 200 ml) of water to a boil. Gradually add two cups of sugar and keep stirring till all sugar is dissolved. Mix in the juice of a lemon.Remove from fire. Mix in a base ( or a mix of bases) from the column below. Bottle.

Serving Suggestion :
1. Mix one part of sharbat with three parts of water / soda/ milk add ice cubes and serve.

2. Take a handful of grated ice. Press to form a tomato sized ball, pour a spoon of Sharbat over it and serve as Ice gola.

3. Mix one part of sharbat with three parts of water, pour into popsicle moulds and freeze until it is a soft slush or hard ice. Serve as slush / popsicles.

1 .: Fresh flower Sharbats Sample recipe : Gulab Sharbat : Take four handfuls of rose petals. Crush them . Add a cup of boiling water. Let sit overnight and strain out solids.( Use Rose, saffron, hibiscus, Kewra/ screwpine etc)

Sharbat – A Primer:
Sharbat ( Persian / Turkish) from Arabic Sarba:drink denotes a sweetened, diluted liquid. The French sorbet / Italian Sorbetto arise from the same root, but now refer to a frozen version of the Sharbat.

The moguls loved Sherbet and brought it with them to India, where it was accepted with a small twist. Unlike the Persian version which often uses egg, Indian versions skip egg completely.

During the Mogul reign, huge loads of ice were shipped daily from Himalayas to cool Sharbats. Baburnama records Babar’s love for Sharbat. It was a favourite of the later mogul emperors too.

The logic behind Sherbats is simple - Steep aromatic compounds in hot water to extract their flavouring. Mix this flavoured liquid with sugar syrup which acts as a preservative. .A shortcut is to skip the steeping process altogether and mix in an essence directly with sugar syrup to create an instant sharbat.

Hydrodistillation is the scientific name of the Sherbat making process, where water is used to extract aroma. This process works best for dried aromatics like dried flowers, roots and spices.

Use alcohol as a steeping liquid in place of water and the Sherbet becomes a liquer. This process is even easier as alcohol is a better solvent and so need not be boiled like water.

A variety of aromatic flowers, grasses, spices, fruit, wood, roots, resins, barks and seeds, leaves & gums can be used in Sherbet / liquer making. Though the same principle can be used to extract flavour from animal secretions (castor, musk, ambergris etc), they are not very common

Sharbat Additives :

To add some texture to a sharbat, it is usually served with one of these additives.
1. Soak a spoon of Basil seeds (Tukmaria seeds,/ Subza seeds) in water overnight. Drain, Mix into Sherbat and serve.

2. Mix in a spoon or two of falooda (thin corn starch / rice / wheat noodles). Sharbat with falooda and ice cream is a Persian delicacy and a favourite of the emperor Shah Jahan.

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2 .: Herb Sharbats Sample recipe :Pudina Sharbat Take four handfuls of mint leaves. Crush them. Add a cup of boiling water. Let sit overnight and strain out solids.(Use basil, oregano, rosemary etc)

3 .: Root Sharbats Sample recipe : Khus Sharbat Take four spoons of khus syrup ( or simmer half a handful of root in a cup boiling water for 30 minutes. Let sit overnight and strain out solids. (Use Liquorice, Khus (Vettiver), Ginger, Young turmeric etc)

4 .: Seed Sharbats Sample recipe: Elachi Sharbat Take a spoon of cardamom seeds. Crush them Add a cup of boiling water. Let sit overnight and strain out solids. (Use aniseeed, large cardamom etc),

5 .: Bark Sharbats Sample recipe : Cinnamon Sharbat Take half a handful of crushed cinnamon sticks .. Add to a cup of boiling water. Simmer for 30 minutes. Let sit overnight and strain out solids.

6 .: Dried flower Sharbats Sample recipe : Saffron Sharbat Take 8 - 10 cloves .. Add to a cup of boiling water. Simmer for 30 minutes. Let sit overnight and strain out solids.( Use clove, saffron etc)

7 .: Fruit zest Sharbats Sample recipe : Orange Sharbat With a grater, gently grate the skin of an orange till you get half a handful of zest. Add to a cup of boiling water. Simmer for 5 minutes. Let sit overnight and strain out solids. ( Use lime zest, citrus zest etc)

8 .: Nut Sharbats Sample recipe : Badam Sharbat Take a handful of almonds. Soak in a cup of boiling water. Peel off skin and blend to a paste and strain through a muslin cloth. ( Use Almond/ Pistachio/ cashew/ walnuts etc)

9 .: Fruit Sharbats Sample recipe :Jamoon Sharbat Take two spoons of fruit syrup ( or simmer two handfuls / dry fruits in a cup of boiling water for 5 – 10 minutes, blend to a paste and strain out solids. ( Use Bel, Jamoon, Tamarind, Lemon, Mango, Plums, Grapes etc)

10 .: Other Sharbats Sample recipe : Chandan Sharbat. Take a spoon of sandalwood powder tied up in a cloth as a small bundle. Steep in half a cup of boiling water overnight. Remove bundle. Use ( Sandalwood, Vanilla, mace, etc)

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