Thai Cuisine Recipe

This is an unusual cold Thai drink available in cans, but here we make it fresh. It looks like frog spawn, but don't let that put you off, those little gelatin lumps with black centres are actually Thai basil seeds. Thai basil has a smaller leaf than you see in Italian cooking, but the seeds are widely available. When you add water the seed swells into small soft balls and these give an unusual texture to the drink. The traditional flavouring is rose water, but you can flavour it with vanilla or peppermint essence if you prefer, or try adding the seeds to Iced Tea for tea with texture!

Ingredients for 2 Drinks
5g Thai Basil Seeds
500ml Water
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Tablespoon Honey
200ml Rose Water
Crushed Ice for Serving

Preparation
1. Using a tea strainer to hold them, rince the seeds under a tap to clean them.
2. Soak the seeds in 100ml water.
3. With the other 400ml of water, warm it with the sugar and honey until the sugar is fully dissolved. Taste it, you can adjust the sweetness to your own preference at this point, remember that the drink will be slightly more dilute once the other ingredients are added.
4. Leave to cool back to room temperature.
5. Once the water is at room temperature, and the basil seeds have swelled mix them all together, the rose water, the sweetened water and the water with the basil seeds.
6. Chill and serve over crushed ice.