No celebration is complete without a glass of something fizzy, and this fruit-lassi-meets-champagne-cocktail number ticks all the boxes to get Indian Independence Day this weekend off on the right foot. (At the restaurant, we dissolve a little yoghurt powder into the apricot liqueur – 3½g per 700ml bottle, if you fancy giving it a go yourself – but that’s probably a step too far for at home.)
Champagne lassi
Serves 1
½ scoop mango sorbet – shop-bought or homemade (see our simple recipe below)
2½ml (ie, just under ½ tsp) good single malt whisky – we use Glenfiddich Grand Cru
5ml apricot liqueur – we use Briottet
75ml champagne, to top
For the sorbet (optional)
3 ripe mangoes, peeled and stoned (or tinned mango pulp when not in season)
200g caster sugar
The juice of 1 lime
To make the sorbet at home, put the mango flesh in a blender, add the sugar, lime juice and 200ml water, then blend smooth, making sure the sugar dissolves. Churn in an ice-cream machine, or pour into container and freeze, stirring every 30 minutes or so, until set. Store for up to three months.
Put the sorbet in the base of a coupe, then pour over the whisky and apricot liqueur. Top with champagne and serve immediately.
• Avinash Shashidhara, head chef, Pali Hill, London W1
UK readers: click to buy these ingredients from Ocado
