Paan Martini

I have been thinking about making a Paan Martini for a while. I had texted Vishal the idea a few days ago. Today I went to Halal Meats, an Indian grocery store on South De Anza Boulevard and bought myself 10 paans. I came home and I experimented a bit. I knew that I wanted to start with blending a Paan with Vodka. I started out by blending 2 ounces of Vodka and 1 fresh Paan in magic bullet. I filtered it into a wine glass. Then I added some ice to the martini shaker, added this vodka to it and then 1 ounce of gin and half an ounce of lemon juice. It was very drinkable but not great.

I texted Suneel and asked him if he had time to hang out and try out the martinis. I drove over with all the makings of Paan and also Vesper martini. At his place, after some trial and error, I came up with the following recipe that worked very well:

1.5 Ounces of Vodka

1 freshly made Paan with Gulkand

1 Ounce of Gin

0.5 Ounce of lemon juice

0.5 Ounce of rose water

Fill martini shaker 3/4 of the way with ice. In a magic bullet blender, blend the Paan with Vodka. Strain the Vodka into the martini shaker. Add the gin, the lemon juice and the rose water. Shake and pour into a martini glass.

I cut a Paan in two and used it as a garnish for 2 martinis. Eating a bite of the Paan before you drink the martini really enhances the taste of the martini.

Unfortunately the only picture I have is of the rose water I used: