This ongoing lockdown is seriously messing with my social life. The closest I get to a bar these days is a Zoom call with the girls fueled by cocktails that are strictly homemade. How homemade? Grab a shaker and play along as we learn how to make cocktails in lockdown. Next: the Coco Picante cocktail.
OK. That doesn’t even sound like a real cocktail.
It kind of isn’t. It’s me doing my ‘mash-up’ thing again. If I think of my top 5 cocktails, the Picante de la Casa is right up there (alongside my other favourite margaritas – classic,Tommy’s, passion fruit, tamarind – also a bitter-ass Negroni, a classic G&T, Caiprinhas, Old Fashioneds, Palomas…and the rest. S**t. That’s definitely more than five). It’s a margarita punched up with spicy red chili and coriander. It’s a bit of a Soho House go-to classic, but I have had pretty good ‘versions’ at bars all over.
So, what are we doing here?
I love spicy chilli, but I also love cooling, tropical coconut and the two together? BAM. Best combination ever. I have a long-standing relationship with mojitos featuring both, especially when travelling – especially in Ibiza. Beachouse in Playa d’en Bossa do a Coco Chili Mojo (Brugal Añejo rum, Malibu, lime juice, chili, coco, mint) that is insane – I go back for it every year (except this one , I guess? F*** you, lockdown!). Am also obsessed with the Mojito Chili Coco, the version by S’Escalinata in Dalt Vila…though I’m just obsessed with that bar in general, tbh.
Rum, chilli, coconut…yum. But extended lockdown has gone to my head and I started thinking, what if it wasn’t a mojito? I’ve got a lovely bottle of Maestro Dobel tequila in the flat, what if we ditched the rum and made it as a margarita? Well, let’s see…
But can I make this cocktail at home?
Well, this is #liquorinlockdown! We’re stuck at home, so yes. We’ve spoken about cocktail shakers before. Didn’t have a muddler – needed to, er, muddle, the chilli and coriander – so I improvised with a honey dripper, I think? It was in my kitchen drawer. Add to that a citrus juicer, knife chopping board – bits you’ve probably got in the kitchen.
Cocktail ingredients
- 50ml tequila (I used a blanco because that is what I had, but a reposado could probably work better?)
- 25ml Cointreau
- 30ml coconut cream
- splash of agave nectar
- juice of 1/2 lime
- piece of red chilli – about 2cm? + extra to garnish
- small handful coriander leaves
- ice
How to make a Coco Picante cocktail
A little bit of prep: drop the piece of chilli into the shaker tin and use the muddler/improvised tool to ‘bruise’ and release the chilli oils. Add the coriander leaves, and keep on to bruisin’. We want the spice and flavour.
Add the remaining ingredients to the shaker with 6-8 cubes of ice (depending on size). Shake it, baby. As before, I usually judge when I have been shaking long enough when the shaker feels super-frosty and the sound of the ice changes to more of a tinny rattle (dulled a little because of the chilli and coriander).
To serve, I rimmed a tumbler with lime and chilli salt. Strain over ice, garnish with a chilli top.
TL;DR…watch me make a Coco Picante on IGTV
The bottom…(of the cocktail glass)
A tasty experiment, but a perfect one? Naaaah, not even close.
The creamy cool of the coconut really knocked back the spiciness of the chilli and coriander so, though there was some deliciousness, it was lacking in that punch-in-the-face heat that I normally love in a Picante. I had a do-over where I added more chilli, more coriander, more bruising…but it still didn’t quite bring the heat.
Possibly the mix of flavour profiles, the combination wasn’t the best? Should I have tried coconut water rather than coconut cream? Should I have ‘stayed in Ibiza’ and kept it as a mojito?
The one good thing about lockdown is there is plenty of time to play around with this. Until the real bars open again and I can leave all the mixing to the pros…
