Friday, November 06, 2009

Ginger Drop Martini

One of my favorite San Francisco restaurants is Straits, with its unique dishes from the countries along the Straits of Malacca, the main shipping channel between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. There are wonderful choices of Indian, Malay, Chinese and Singaporean dishes, some cool, some spicy with exotic cocktails to tempt the taste buds. My first visit there, I had a ginger drop martini and it immediately became my all time favorite drink. Determined to reproduce it at home, I embarked on a long series of trial and error taste testings, with a dear forensic nurse colleague and two of my adult sons as guinea pigs. Finally, several bottles of vodka and many pounds of ginger later, I declared my ginger drop martinis equal to, if not better than, those at Straits Restaurant. I began taking them to our forensic conferences where they were polished off in short order. As they are quite labor intensive, I began to invite only those most worthy to share in the samplings. Here is my recipe.  Skol, okole maluna, cheers, bonsai, and all that jazz.

GINGER DROP MARTINI
 
2 Parts Vodka     1 Part Ginger Syrup
½ Part Sweet & Sour Mix
In a shaker with ice, combine vodka, ginger syrup, &  sweet & sour mix.
For more ginger flavor, peel and slice ginger to make one cup – add to one liter of vodka.  Let flavors mesh for 48 hours, then store in freezer
     If you cannot find ginger syrup, you can make it by combining two cups sugar, two cups water, and 1 cup of fresh ginger (chopped fine) into pot and simmer for one hour. Strain ginger syrup and it is ready to use. Remember to keep the syrup in the fridge.
Rub a piece of fresh ginger around the rim of a martini glass and dip in sugar. Pour and garnish with the ginger slice.

I always make a huge batch of this, at least quadruple the recipe.  It is a bit of a pain peeling all that ginger.  Fortunately for me, I live in a Filipino neighborhood, with a great grocery that sells ginger by the sack.  I pick a good television watching night and get the peeler, my sharp knives and get started.  If you don't like the taste of ginger, this is NOT the drink for you!!



14 comments:

  1. just pick me up off the floor now....

    I had to give up martinis this summer after a few too many...

    one martini two martini three martini FLOOR....do you know this saying ?

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  2. You never know what you can learn on blogs. Now, a special martini straight up. Great!

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  3. I have never had a martini but if I did this souns really good.......:-) Hugs

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  4. sounds great!
    cheers!

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  5. BETH, I am familiar with that little rhyme...and I
    haven't hit the floor yet...don't think I've consumed four martinis, though!

    LAKEVIEWER, this is really a tasty concoction! You
    should make it for hubby and watch the sunset some
    evening!

    BERNIE, this would be a wonderful martini to make you debut!

    MAGICEYE, cheers to you as well. When I come to India, I'll have to make a batch and invite you to my friend's house!

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  6. Cocktail hour already? This sounds great!

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  7. Thank you for the recipe, it looks delicious.

    I looked at the pictures on your cruise and you are lovely.

    Renee xoxo

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  8. Thank you, I'm not sure who the artist is but I love it too.

    xoxoxo

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  9. I'll have one please!

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  10. I actually enjoy a plain martini straight up with olives the best...but your martini sounds wonderful! I do like ginger..I often put a slice in my tea, and I buy candied giger in Chinatown that I eat.

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  11. Thanks for post this one! I think I am going to have to pick up some Ginger Root next time I am out and plan to give these a try!

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  12. Oh, how I wish I could have one of those

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  13. Icy - I wish I could host a blog party and serve
    these ginger drop martinis to one and all.

    Renee - thank you for the kind comments. I love
    cruise - & eat & drink & cruising is great for
    that!

    Stevie - step right up to the bar.

    Pat - I also like a plain martini - vodka,
    though, not gin - Grey Goose, preferably!

    Lisa@PicklesandCheese - if you try them, you'll
    love them!

    Poetic Shutterbug - I wish you could have a
    ginger drop as well! Oh, well, ginger ale
    isn't too bad...or champagne!

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