Refreshing Tropical Fruit Juice Cocktail (Virgin)

I did not grow up in Mumbai, every time we visited "Bombay" for summer vacation, as a child one of my favorite things to do was to go out for a stroll at sea side and then  to Sukh Sagar Restaurant and have this juice cocktail accompanied with some spicy snacks. I was always very intrigued by sweet and sour taste of this thirst quenching cocktail. Ever since my childhood, always wanted to make this concoction at home which tasted exactly the same.
Since then I have been to Mumbai many many times and this fruit cocktails is available at every restaurant around the corner, but nothing taste like the one  they serve at Sukh-Sagar. I was determined to create this one at home that tasted exactly the same.
Then one time when I visited my parents in India many years ago,  I made this with all the fresh fruits from the memory of taste that was well embedded in my sensory cortex. It turned out exactly the same and I was delighted.  I took tons of pictures.  Then sadly, by mistake all the pictures were erased. I was devastated.  I came back here and made the same thing on larger scale for my niece's bridal shower and it was a hit !  However for large quantity I used lot of canned fruit and canned frozen juice concentrate. I will post the recipe next for  how to make bulk version for a party and when all the fresh fruit are not readily available.

However right now I will post this recipe for this yummy virgin fruit cocktail that yields  three 12 oz servings or four 9 oz servings each.   This is made from all fresh fruits.

You will need following fruits:
* Seedless black grapes
* 1 fresh sweet pineapple
* Orange juice, you may use with or without pulp (I used Tropicana, but you may use freshly squeezed)
* 1 seedless watermelon
* 1 apple
* 1-2 limes

To make one blender full of 4 serving you will need to use
* 2 cups of seedless black grapes
* 2 cups of fresh cut chopped pineapple
* 2 cups of orange juice
* 2 cups of chopped seedless watermelon
* 1/2 chopped apple
* Juice from 1 lime
* 1 teaspoon of black salt (if not fond of black salt may use regular salt, but black salt is the one gives its original taste like I used to have at this Sukh Sagar restaurant)
* 1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder (optional)
* 1/4 cup of sugar (I used instant sweetened ice tea with lemon instead)
* Some extras sugar and black salt for coating rim of serving glasses.
* 1 cup of ice cubes

 Method:
* Rub the cut lime on rims of service glasses, coat the rim with sugar and black salt and put the glasses in fridge ahead of time for chilled serving glasses.

* Put all the  fruits, orange juice  in a blender or in vita mix or Ninja.

* Add lime juice

* Add ice and blend everything well.

* Taste and add sugar to your taste (this will vary on the amount of sweetness of fruits and also on your palate)

* I added instant sweetened ice tea with lemon flavor instead of sugar

* Blend everything well.

* Use a strainer to strain the grape peels.

* Add salt and cumin powder.

* Mix well.

* Pour the juice cocktail in  chilled cups with and sugar/salt coated rims.
* You may pour over crushed ice or without ice.

* Garnish the rims of cup with watermelon, or lime slices.

* Serve with lots of Love and Enjoy !!

Suggestions and Hints:
* There is no hard and fast rules here, you may use any fruits that you desire.
* Acidity and sweetness may be controlled by amount of lime or sugar you add, based on natural sweetness of fruits.
* Color  may turn out darker or light red, depending on color of grapes.  For bulk version recipe that I am going to post next you will notice that I used Kala Katta for the deep color and also used concord grape juice concentrate.
* Lot of people ask me what is black salt, detail of which I am going to post on my next bulk version of recipe. If you are not fond of it, you can totally omit it.






Recipe and Photographs by Surekha.

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