Bandung is a popular drink found at the street stalls in Malaysia and served at weddings with dishes like rending. It’s extremely refreshing on a hot day and is a gorgeous, fragrant accompaniment for a hot, spicy meal.

YOU NEED

½ cup of fresh pitted dates, roughly chopped

¼ cup of water

Plus 200ml of cold water

400ml of Bonsoy organic soy milk

½ – ¾ teaspoon of rosewater essence

Natural pink food colouring

YOU DO

Put the dates and the 1/4 cup of water into a small bowl for an hour to soak. Once the dates have softened, blend them with the soaking water, then strain the liquid so that it is smooth. Put aside any date mixture that is too thick to strain and use it in another recipe, (eg: a smoothie)

Put the remaining ingredients, the date sweetened water and a few drops of natural food colouring together into a jug and whisk to combine. Place the jug in the freezer until the milk is chilled.

Serve in chilled glasses with lots of ice.

Yields: 2 large or 4 small serves

Time: 5 minutes preparation. 1 hour soaking time. 2 hours for chilling.

Notes:  Bandung is traditionally made using sugar syrup. But by sweetening it with dates instead of castor sugar, you gain vital vitamins, minerals and fibre and still end up with a very sweet, refreshing Bandung style beverage.

I use a brand of food colour called Hopper which contains fruits and vegetables. It is available in select health food stores.

YOU NEED

2 litres of water

1/3 cup of agave syrup

2 cloves

1 star anise

1 large cinnamon quill

1 mango, peeled and seed removed

1 green apple, core removed

1 pear, core removed

½ a small pineapple, core removed

1 orange

3 prickly pears, peeled

Handful  of walnuts

Handful  of raisins

4 hibiscus flowers

Soda water to taste

#optional – rum or tequila to taste

#optional – fresh sugar cane

Handful of fresh washed mint

YOU DO

Place the first 5 ingredients into a large pot and bring them to the boil. Then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer for 10 minutes and turn off the heat.

Chop all the fruit into any shape you wish and add them all to the pot. Add the walnuts, raisins and hibiscus flowers. Allow the punch to cool and refrigerate until chilled.

Ladle chilled punch into serving glasses. Add a splash of soda water and some rum or tequila, to taste (if you are using alcohol).

Very carefully cut the fresh sugar cane into sticks. Garnish the serving glasses with fresh sugar cane sticks and fresh mint leaves.

Notes: Ponche is traditionally made by cooking the syrup along with all the fruit for a much longer period of time and then served warm. This recipe has been created to suit hot summers day with chilled punch and firmer fruits.

If you don’t have agave you can use pure maple syrup.

You can purchase prickly pear from specialty fruit and vegetable stores. Otherwise simply substitute for another tropical fruit.

You can purchase hibiscus flowers in syrup at liquor shops and specialty supermarkets. If you cannot find it, simply omit it from the recipe.

You can purchase fresh sugar cane from Asian fruit and vegetable grocers.

This is so refreshing for long hot days out on the deck. My passion for food has very much extended itself to a passion for creating drinks. I adore making drinks that are served loaded with the fragrance of herbs and/or fruit. Nothing accompanies beautiful food more than a beautiful beverage. Don’t overlook the entirety of a food event, if you want to make an impression.

I am not normally a sour or a cherry fan but when I spotted some sour cherry juice recently I had to try it. If unlike me you are a sour fan, you may wish to add less pure maple syrup and if you are after an even quicker recipe you could just add lemonade. I just prefer knowing how much sweetener I am drinking and also prefer pure maple syrup.

YOU NEED

100mls of sour cherry juice

1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup

100mls of soda water

ice

cherries for garnish

#optional – a splash of vodka

YOU DO

Mix the sour cherry juice, maple syrup and soda water. Fill a glass ½ to ¾ with ice. Pour in your cherry soda mix, Garnish with some fresh cherries and serve.

Yields: 1 serve

#Next time I may even freeze some cherries into my ice blocks <3

YOU NEED

Elderflower Cordial (I get this on the lower shelves of the cordial section of some Coles and Woolworths)

lemonade

pomegranate seeds for garnish

YOU DO Mix 1 tablespoon of Elderflower cordial and chilled lemonade into a sherry or martini glass. Drop loads of pomegranate seeds into each glass.

ENJOY ♥

Think warm summer’s day, soft breeze, the scent of rosemary & sage floating from the kitchen as your nut roast cooks, the “cheesecake” is setting in the fridge….Family and/or friends throughout the garden, the laughter of children and a full chilled glass of this..

…OR a quiet child free do and a glass of this with a generous dash of vodka :”..!

YOU NEED

½ cup of pure maple syrup

½ cup of water

¼ cup of freshly squeezed lime juice

ginger ale

lime wedges for serving

YOU DO

Put the maple syrup and water in a pot, whisk them together and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for a few minutes. Turn the heat off and whisk through the lime juice. Place in the fridge till chilled.

Pour equal amounts of the maple and lime mixture into 4 glasses filled with ice and top up with ginger ale.

Serve with lime wedges

Servings:  Serves 4

Time: I haven’t timed this one.

I had an iced coffee a while ago and it just didn’t hit the mark. So I had a go at my own version of iced coffee, with one of my favourite plant based milks ~ hazelnut!

YOU NEED

1 cup hazelnut milk

1/2 cup of strong espresso coffee

2 teaspoons of pure maple syrup

a couple of generous scoops of your favourite plant based ice cream. (I used coconut ice cream)

a handful of ice blocks

YOU DO

Blend the hazelnut milk, coffee and the maple syrup until well combined.

Put the ice in a tall glass. Pour the milk and coffee mix over the top of the ice and top with your ice-cream.

ENJOY!!

Time:  5 minutes

Yields:  1 large or 2 small serves

This is why I love food! The diversity of what and how you can prepare a dish is incredible.

This needs no cow’s milk, no ice-cream…yet feels just as naughty and delicious as it’s counterparts, because the xanthium gum gives it the same consistency of a milkshake and the ice gives it, it’s chill factor 🙂

The 1^st step is crucial. Believe me. My 1^st trial I just threw the xanthum gum into the milk and blended it and I ended up with nasty little lumps. It turns out that xanthium gum is so incredibly fine that it sticks to itself so it needs to be ground down with another dry ingredient before being added to a wet ingredient.

YOU NEED

1 gram of xanthum gum (I got mine from my local health food shop)

1 tablespoon of cocoa

2 tablespoons of maple syrup

500mls of chilled rice milk

peppermint essence to taste

6 ice cubes

YOU DO

Grind the xanthum gum and cocoa together with a mortar and pestle.

Place the rice milk in a blender and add the xanthum gum and cocoa mixture a little bit at a time and blend. Keep adding until it is all in the rice milk, blending each time.

Add the cocoa and maple syrup and blend. Carefully add a few drops of peppermint essence at a time until you are happy with the flavour and blend.

Add the ice cubes, blend and serve 🙂

Serves: 2

Time: 10 minutes

Freeze: N/A

Notes:  If you don’t want to use essence you could infuse a mint flavour into the milk by slowly bringing the milk to the boil with a heap of fresh, washed mint leaves. Allow it to cool, remove the leaves and refrigerate the milk until chilled and then proceed with the steps above.

I have discovered that berries and oranges are a match made in heaven! So apologies in advance for all the orange and strawberry recipes that are to come. These Twining’s Infusion bags are really fragrant and with the juice this made a really lovely, iced tea, style treat. Perfect for a hot day and a really special non alcoholic drink.

YOU NEED

5 Twining’s “Infusions” bags, Raspberry, Strawberry and Loganberry flavour

4 cups boiled water

3-4 tablespoons of pure maple syrup

½ cup of orange juice (I used freshly squeezed)

½ cup of strawberry juice (I used freshly juiced)

1 orange, finely sliced for garnish

1 punnet of strawberries, finely sliced for garnish

Ice for serving

YOU DO

Place the Twining’s Infusion bags into the boiled water for 4 minutes. Remove and discard the bags and refrigerate the tea.

Once the tea is chilled, add the maple syrup and both the juices and whisk well to combine.

Pour the tea into a large jug, with loads of ice, orange slices and the strawberries and serve

Yields: Makes approx 1.5 litres

Time:  10 mins. Plus the cooling time.

Notes: If you don’t have maple syrup, you can substitute it with sugar.

YOU NEED

4 cups of boiled water

1 lemon, finely sliced

1 lime, finely sliced

3-4 tablespoons of agave (if you don’t have agave just use sugar)

5 plain black tea bags

1 cup of pomegranate juice (I used freshly squeezed)

ice for serving

YOU DO

Place the teabags into the boiled water for 5- 10 minutes. Don’t leave them too long as it will make the tea bitter. Remove the tea bags and refrigerate the tea.

Once the tea is cold, add the rest of the ingredients and combine. Put in a large jug, with ice and serve 🙂

Servings: Makes approx 1.5 litres of Iced Tea.

Time: 10 minutes plus cooling time.

Freezing: Not suitable for freezing