As part of the Sunday Lunch for my cousins, I decided to make Mojitos the special drink on offer! If made well, they are well among my favourite cocktails and are definitely “drinking beyond tipsy” material!Unfortunately, most restaurants and bars make extremely sub-standard Mojitos. Some go as far as to substitute Rum with Vodka.
This is was AK used (per glass) to make the drinks:
60 ml Bacardi (or any other white rum)
1 heaped tbsp fresh mint leaves
5-6 lemon pieces (the size you would get if you cut each lemon into 8 pcs)
2 tsp brown sugar (I was a little low on brown sugar so I mixed 2 parts brown with 1 part regular white sugar)
Lemon flavoured soda (Catch) to top
Ice
(If we had some Triple Sec – citrus liqueur – then we would have definitely added about 15 ml)
In a lowball glass (broad & short glass – the type one might use for whiskey), he placed the mint leaves, sugar & lemon pieces. He used a pestle to crush and mix all 3 together. Just use 2-3 strokes (is that what they are called??!!) because we just want the mix to release all the essential oils and flavours, but not become a paste/ chutney!
He then added the Bacardi and the ice. Lastly, he topped it with the Lemon soda and gave it a slight stir! Lo behold..!! A simple, yummy Mojito!
In my opinion, this is the right mix of ingredients. If there is too much or too little of the mint/ sugar/ lemon, the entire balance is destroyed! But of course, you can find your own favourite ratio, depending on what works for you!
PS – In case you don’t have brown sugar, don’t fret. Regular white sugar works just as well. But just bear in mind that regular white sugar is slightly sweeter than brown (which has a richer flavour but is just slightly less sweet). So you might want to try a glass and then adjust the sugar ratio accordingly.