If you’ve got a jasmine bush in your yard (and the jasmine is blooming throughout Los Angeles at the moment), or if perhaps your neighbor has one… Make this drink! This is one of the best, most elegant cocktails I’ve had in a long time. I discovered this jasmine sour martini at the Hookah Lounge at Taj Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad, India. And I can’t get enough.
If you don’t have a jasmine bush, well, bummer. But you can probably substitute the blossoms from an orange or lemon tree, or some other such sweet, fragrant flower.
Jasmine Sour Martini
1 oz Simple syrup
Handful Fresh jasmine flowers
1/2 oz Freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 oz Vodka
1. Steep the jasmine flowers in the simple syrup until very fragrant. Allow to cool.
2. In a shaker filled with ice, combine the lemon juice, jasmine syrup and vodka. Shake well. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a jasmine flower.
Damn, this is a tasty drink. And it’s not the only recipe I scored from the Hookah Lounge. I also got the recipe for an amazing Indian-style, orange-coriander mojito and a delicious pomegranate-mint margarita. For those recipes, check out my Hyderabadi cocktail story, How To Drink Like A Nizam, at Food Republic.
