Caipirinha

This is the most famous and traditional Brazilian drink. Caipirinha is normally prepared in individual serving.

Ingredients:
1 lime (cut into wedges)
2 to 3 tsp fine sugar
2 tbsp cachaça
2 tsp water
enough ice cubes to fill a 250ml glass

Method:
Mash the lime in a glass. Add sugar, cachaca, ice cubes and water. Mix. Enjoy!

Sid's Caipiroska Canadensa

I found a Maple Leaf Martini recipe in the Food and Drink Magazine Spring 2005 Issue. The recipe calls for cranberries. Unfortunately, I couldn't find cranberries nor cranberry juice in Curitiba. So Sid modified the recipe and made this delicious "Caipiroska Canadensa".

For 250mL, you will need:
100mL Vodka
100mL Sprite
5 strawberries (coarsely chopped)
2 tsp maple syrup
A few ice cubes

Put all the ingredients in a mixer, mix and serve.

Soy Milk

Ever since we moved to Brazil in January this year, I have been dying for a nice glass of soy milk. ( I don't know why, because I survived in the Middle East without any such craving). Soy products are available here, but all of them come with flavouring that may be too much of an "acquired taste" for me. To give you an idea, there is "Ensure" flavoured vanilla soy milk and the (downright awful) orange flavoured soy milk. For me, the best one is probably the apple flavour but still, nothing beats the regular, sweetened soy milk. So I went onto the internet and found this simple recipe.


Makes about 2 litres

Ingredients:
2 cups soya beans
2 litres of water

Directions:
1. Soak soy beans overnight with water.
2. Discard the water. Transfer soy beans to a blender. Add 1 L (or sufficient for beans to be liquidised). Blend mixture until almost homogenous.
3. Transfer the mixture into a pot. Add remaining 1 L of water and bring the milk mixture to a boil. Boil for about 15 minutes.
4. Filter milk through muslin or cheese cloth. (a sieve will also work)
5. Add sugar to taste.
6. Add orange-flavoured Tang powder to mixture for the ultimate killer party drink (just kidding)

*Soy milk turns bad quite easily, so only make a small batch at a time.