Fruit Cocktail: My Fond Nostalgic Childhood Memory of Mumbai

Long before the smoothies came in to this world and became popular amongst foodies, my first encounter with this  was in late 60s.   This was when I was just a child and whenever we used to go to Mumbai for our summer vacation,  Bharat M, a friend of our family always used to take us  to this small Juice stall called "Sukh Sagar" juice center.  I always used to look forward to this fruit cocktail amongst all the choices of fresh fruit juice that this vendor of this place used to sell.  This is one of the oldest juice center in the chow patty area off marine drive,,,have visited it very frequently since years as a kid,,it is open till very late and has a amazing list of all types of combination juices and shakes, the best being this one and then there is Ganga /Jamuna, pomegranate etc... Now it also has street food like Pav bhaji and other Indian street food snacks and  open veg sandwich next to it...it's not a fancy restaurant but has a open air sit out with enough chairs,always crowded,great place for snacks and juice.

I still remember the taste and whenever I go to Mumbai I always  make a point to go there to have this juice cocktail.  Of course as a child out of curiosity,  I would always watched them make it and now since many years,  whenever I get all these fruits from the market I make this at home.  Have been thinking about sharing this recipe for long time.  Finally here it is. It is so easy to make, all you need is all these fruits and a blender or Vitamix,   no sugar added, all naturally sweet and healthy refreshing cool and soothing snack.  You can omit or add any fruits, but this is the one like I used to have.

As I was writing this recipes on this blog, I became so curious about this joint and read up on it, very interesting story indeed, how owner of this well known restaurant chain started on Rs. 4 monthly salary and literally reached from rags to riches.  I posted the link to this at end, if you like you can read up on it.

Now back to my recipe, this recipe I have created from watching the vendor make this cocktail and from the memory of the taste and not given to me by anyone and is not and  may not be exact recipe of Juice Cocktail from Sukh Sagar,  but definitely inspired by this place. 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of seedless black grapes
• 1 cup of  orange juice (I used juice with pulp not from concentrate, but you can squeeze fresh)
• 1 cup of Pomegranate juice  (I used the sugarless one)
  
• 1/4 cup of  fresh pomegranate seeds (you can omit this if you don't like gritty test, but I love it)
• 1 cup of water melon pieces
• 1 cup of ripe mango pieces
• 1 cup of pineapple pieces
• 1  pear peeled/cored  and chopped
• 1 gala apple peeled/cored and chopped
• Fresh lime juice from 2 limes
• 2 teaspoon of black salt (Kala Namak)
  
• 1 teaspoon of lava salt (optional)Fresh Mint leaves for garnish

• Just before serving blend all the fruits together in Vitamix or blender first at chop then at puree setting, until all the fruits are turned in to smoothie texture. 
• Then add Lime juice and black salt.
• Give it one more blend and wallah..it is ready to serve !
• You can garnish it with mint leaves and little sprinkle of Lava salt if available.
• Lava salt I just added as our son had brought this back from Iceland. Pinch of it gave a good twist to this and enhanced all the flavors.  This is totally optional.
  

 

Enjoy !!

I think the secret ingredient of this juice cocktail, that I later figured out after trying this recipe multiple time is "Kala Namak" or black salt. Here is little bit about this salt :Kala namak is a kiln-fired rock salt with a sulphurous, pungent smell used in the Indian subcontinent. It is also known as "Himalayan black salt", Sulemani namak, bire noon, bit loona, bit lobon, kala loon, sanchal, guma loon, or pada loon, and is manufactured from the salts mined in the regions surrounding the Himalayas.The condiment is composed largely of sodium chloride, with several other components lending the salt its colour and smell. The smell is mainly due to its sulfur content. Because of the presence of Greigite   (Fe₃S₄, Iron (II, III sulfide) in the mineral, it forms brownish-pink to dark violet translucent crystals when whole. When ground into a powder, its color ranges from purple to pink. Kala namak has been praised in Ayurveda and used for its perceived medical qualities.

This recipes is dedicated to Late Bharat Maru who was son of  dear friend of my papa. Bharat is the one  who always used to take us to this place and he is the one who got me hooked on this.  Here is to you Bharat bhai !! 

And Here is the link to read up on how and when Sukh Sagar restaurant started in early sixties. https://www.theweekendleader.com/Success/1751/rags-to-riches.html

Information on Kala Namak source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kala_namak

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License

Recipe and Photographs by Surekha.