I couldn’t imagine a more spirited way of ringing in the New Year than an alcohol-suffused post. That it is coming a few days into the first week suggests just one thing: time-taken to …er… read through The Tulleeho! Book of Cocktails.
The first book of its kind with a uniquely Indian focus, it is a store-house of information about mixology, including easy-to-follow cocktail recipes with accessible indigenous ingredients. Peppering the recipes are delightful trivia, anecdotes and facts, making this book a must-have for both the home bartending enthusiast, as well as, the most serious social drinker.
The book introduces different kinds of alcohol, barware, glassware, mixers, condiments and garnishes needed to stock a home bar. It then moves on to types of cocktails, bartending techniques, tips & tricks. There is a section which provides basic information about different liqueurs and other popular spirits.
The bulk of the book is made up of recipes while the last few pages have valuable information on where to shop for home bar requirements, alcohol calorie counter, hangover prevention and smart drinking.
Edited by Rayna Jhaveri, and published by Westland Ltd., the book presents a variety of different alcoholic cocktails, the objectives being to enable you to make them yourself and not feel lost even though you may never have swigged one. Each section comes with a short history of the main base alcohol, some trivia, and preferred ways to serve it.
Helpful descriptions of unusual ingredients and possible substitutes are also included in the recipe pages. Categorized into Tullee Tipples and Classics, the mouthwatering mixes include Dessert and Valentine’s Day specials. It also lists specials celebrating seasons (Monsoons) and festivals (Holi, Diwali, Christmas) while conjuring up delightfully named Jamuntinis, Anarkalis and Instant Karmas.
Puneetinder Kaur Sidhu, travel enthusiast and the author of Adrift: A junket junkie in Europe is the youngest of four siblings born into an aristocratic family of Punjab. Dogged in her resistance to conform, and with parental pressure easing sufficiently over the years, she had plenty of freedom of choice. And she chose travel.
She was born in Shimla, and spent her formative years at their home, Windsor Terrace, in Kasumpti while schooling at Convent of Jesus & Mary, Chelsea. The irrepressible wanderlust in her found her changing vocations midstream and she joined Singapore International Airlines to give wing to her passion. She has travelled extensively in Asia, North America, Australia, Europe, South Africa and SE Asia; simultaneously exploring the charms within India.
When she is not travelling, she is writing about it. Over the past decade or so, she has created an impressive writing repertoire for herself: as a columnist with Hindustan Times, as a book reviewer for The Tribune and as a contributor to travel magazines in India and overseas. Her work-in-progress, the documenting of colonial heritage along the Old Hindustan-Tibet Road, is an outcome of her long-standing romance with the Himalayas.
