6 Easy Drink Recipes for Raya and other Special Occasions

Add flair to your Raya spread with some yummy, easy drink recipes!

You’ve been slaving in the kitchen the last few days, busy preparing a feast for your Raya open house or that party you’ve been planning for months. The menu is ready, the table is set, and you’ve got your outfit all planned out. But wait, what are your guests drinking??? Fret not, here comes Butterkicap’s list of easy drink recipes to the rescue!

From classic favourites to a fancy mocktail with a local twist, we’ve put together a list of six recipes that are very easy to put together and are sure to keep your guests happy. Enjoy!

 

Nothing says Raya more than this simple combination of sirap and cincau. Here’s how to make it right.

Ingredients

• 500ml rose syrup
• 500g grass jelly
• 3 litres water
• ice

Serves 10

Method

1. Julienne or cut cincau into little cubes.
2. In a large jug, combine rose syrup and water and mix thoroughly.
3. Add grass jelly.
4. Add ice when ready to serve guests.
5. Stir to get bits of cincau into the glass when pouring.

Tips

1. Different brands of rose syrup may have different syrup to water ratios. We suggest following those ratios.
2. It’s okay to err on the sweet side as Malaysians do love their drinks sweet! Plus, you can always top up individual glasses with extra water if guests would like their drinks slightly less diabetes-inducing.

 

Sirap Bandung is a popular drink during Ramadhan, Raya and weddings. Bright pink and normally very sweet, sirap bandung is either loved or absolutely loathed. But this recipe elevates the standard sirap bandung with the inclusion of ice cream soda, turning this drink into one that is surprisingly refreshing despite its shocking pink tones and sweetness. It’s definitely one to try from our easy drink recipes list.

Ingredients

• 500ml rose syrup
• 720g evaporated milk
• 1.65 litres ice cream soda
• 500ml water
• ice

Serves 10

Method

1. Mix syrup with evaporated milk in a large jug. Stir thoroughly.
2. Add water. Stir.
3. Add ice. Stir.
4. Finally, add ice cream soda and stir.

Tips

1. Avoid watering down this drink. Let the ice reduce its sweetness instead.

 

This drink is also affectionately known as ‘Michael Jackson’ due to its black and white colour combination. It’s a very enriching drink and the grass jelly adds a great, chewy texture that is very light on the palate.

Ingredients

• 4 litres cold unsweetened soya bean juice
• 1kg grass jelly
• 250g coconut sugar
• 250g hot water

Serves 10

Method

1. Grate coconut sugar.
2. In a small pot, add hot boiling water to grated coconut sugar and whisk to melt.
3. Julienne or cut grass jelly into little cubes.
4. Pour soya bean juice into a large jug.
5. Add coconut sugar syrup and stir thoroughly.
6. Add grass jelly.
7. Don’t forget to scoop out grass jelly into the glasses when serving.

Tips

1. Avoid adding ice to this drink as watered down soya bean juice does not taste good.
2. Skip boxed soya milk. Go to your local market or soya bean food truck to get a nice fresh supply of unsweetened soya milk.

 

The next drink on our easy drink recipes list is one that brings back memories, especially when served in an intricately cut glass punch bowl with matching cups and a transparent ladle. You can just picture it, can’t you? There are many varieties and recipes for fruit punch out there, but this is one we really like as every single sip tastes like childhood!

Ingredients

• 200ml orange Sunquick cordial
• 200ml rose syrup
• 3 litres Sprite or 7-up
• 3 litres ice cream soda
• 2 large lemons
• 2 large navel oranges
• ice

Serves 10

Method

1. Slice oranges and lemons thinly.
2. In a large jug or drink dispenser, mix Sunquick cordial and rose syrup. Stir thoroughly.
3. Add Sprite or 7-up and ice cream soda. Give it a good stir.
4. Top with orange and lemon slices and ice.

Tips

1. You do not need to include sliced fruits into glasses when serving, but it does make for a prettier picture!
2. Have a punch bowl? Use that instead!

 

Air Mata Kucing literally means ‘cat tears’, but thankfully its list of ingredients does not call for any member of the feline population and instead is made with dried mata kucing or longan. Air mata kucing tends to have a slightly herby, strong, intense caramelized flavour and a deliciously dark tone. This recipe adds a little twist to the standard air mata kucing drink with the add-on flavour of pandanus.

Ingredients

• 775g dried longan
• 375ml + 375ml hot water
• 300g coconut sugar (gula Melaka)
• 10 tbsp molasses
• 2 ½ tbsp white sugar
• 8 pandanus leaves, knotted
• 1.125 litres water
• ice

Serves 10

Method

1. In a bowl, soak dried longan with 375ml hot water and cover.
2. In a deep pan or pot, mix 375ml hot water with coconut sugar, molasses, white sugar and pandanus leaves. Put heat on medium low and stir or whisk until the sugars have thoroughly dissolved. Remove pandanus leaves.
3. Once the dried longans have rehydrated, drain excess water and combine longans and sugar mixture in a large jug.
4. Add water and stir thoroughly.
5. Add ice.
6. Don’t forget to scoop up some longan into glasses when serving your guests.

Tips

1. This drink is great for making ahead of time as the longan sugar mixture can be kept refrigerated in an airtight container for a week or two. Only add water when you’re ready to serve.

 

This is a refreshingly delicious mocktail to serve when you’d rather have a drink that’s more limey than sugar sweet. A combination of east meets west flavours, the scent and taste of fresh rosemary adds a subtle but lovely dimension to this deceptively simple drink. It’s so good you may need to make extra.

Ingredients

• 325g white sugar
• 325g water
• 10g fresh rosemary (roughly 10 sprigs)
• 350g calamondin lime juice (about 100 limes)
• 350g lemon juice (about 8 lemons)
• 3 litres soda water
• ice

Serves 20

Method

1. Make a simple syrup by combining sugar and water in a pot and stir over medium high heat. The sugars should dissolve thoroughly, resulting in a crystal clear, slightly thick liquid. Once the edges start to simmer, remove from heat and let cool thoroughly.
2. Using a pestle, bash entire sprigs of rosemary. You just want to bruise them somewhat instead of disintegrating them thoroughly.
3. Put rosemary, including the bits that have fallen off, into a large jug.
4. Add calamondin lime and lemon juice. Stir.
5. Next, add 1 to 1.5 litres of soda water and stir to mix thoroughly.
6. Add cooled simple syrup.
7. Add balance soda water and stir.

Tips

1. If serving from a jug, you can either add ice to the jug or leave it in an ice box to be added to individual glasses upon serving so the melting ice doesn’t dilute the soda too quickly.
2. This drink is pretty enough to be served in individual glasses to guests instead of one big jug.
3. Don’t forget to add a sprig of bashed rosemary into each glass so it looks pretty!
4. For extra bubbliness, use canned soda water instead of bottled sparkling water.

 

Extra tips

1. You can use cold or room temperature water when needed for the easy drink recipes above. The ice will help cool things down.
2. Don’t forget to keep extra plain water on hand as some guests may not want anything sweet to drink.
3. Ice! Get extra bags of ice and don’t forget to keep them in the freezer.

So, which drink from our easy drink recipes will you be serving your guests? Share your pictures with us by adding the #butterkicap hashtag!