Jaisalmer Gin, coconut blossom milk, green tea, lemon & egg white — Trishna London
The toddy shop is one of Kerala's great cultural institutions — a local bar (often unlicensed, operating from dawn) that serves palm toddy (kallu in Malayalam), the mildly alcoholic sap of the palm tree tapped fresh each morning. Toddy tastes like coconut water on the morning of tapping; by evening, fermentation has begun and it becomes more sour and strongly alcoholic. The toddy tradition connects Kerala's coconut economy to its drinking culture in an intimate way. Trishna's Toddy Shop Sour translates this into a fine-dining cocktail: Jaisalmer Gin (from the Rajasthan desert, using Himalayan juniper and Indian botanicals) with coconut blossom milk (derived from the sugary sap of coconut flower clusters before they become coconut water), green tea for tannin, and egg white for the sour's signature foam. Tonka beans — the magical South American bean with flavours of vanilla, almond, and coumarin — finish it as a nod to the colonial trade routes that connect the tropics to a Marylebone dining room.
Tonka beans (available at Sous Chef, Waitrose Entertaining, and specialist food shops) are intensely aromatic — a little goes an enormous way. Grate the equivalent of a match-head over the foam. Jaisalmer Gin uses Himalayan juniper alongside lemongrass, khus (vetiver), and gondhoraj lemon peel — it is the most Indian-flavoured gin widely available in the UK. The dry shake before ice is critical for the egg white foam.
Replace egg white with coconut foam: whip 3 tbsp coconut cream to soft peaks; spoon over the strained cocktail instead of shaking with egg white.
One of London's most celebrated Indian restaurants, Trishna is known for extraordinary Keralan-influenced seafood and an exceptional cocktail programme. The bar team draws on coastal Indian botanicals — coconut, raw mango, curry leaf, kokum — to create drinks that feel as considered as the kitchen's cooking.
Visit trishnarestaurant.com