Siam Sunray

Ingredients

The spirit

• 45 mlvodka
• 15 mlcoconut liqueur
• or coconut rum
• 10 mllime juice
• freshly squeezed

The aromatics

• 1 stalklemongrass
• bruised, plus one to garnish
• 2 slicesfresh ginger
• 1red bird’s eye chilli
• sliced, seeds removed
• 2kaffir lime leaves
• optional

The rest

• 10 mlsugar syrup
• or to taste
• soda water
• to top up
• plenty of cubed ice

To garnish

• a lemongrass stalk
• as a stirrer
• a slice of red chilli
• floated on top

Directions

1. Remove the seeds and white pith from the chilli. Use a slice or two rather than the whole chilli. Taste as you build rather than committing at the start.
2. Press firmly a few times rather than grinding hard. This drink must be double strained into the glass. Add it gently so the fizz is not knocked out. Do not serve it to anyone avoiding alcohol. Use coconut water in place of the vodka and liqueur. Keep the lime, chilli, ginger and lemongrass as they are.
3. Wash your hands thoroughly after cutting the chilli. Use a board you can wash rather than a wooden one. Never rub your eyes while handling hot chillies. Trim the dry top and the tough base from the stalk. The dry green top is woody and tastes of very little.
4. Discard the top and keep the bottom third or so. Peel off any dry outer layers as well. Work along the whole length of the pale section. It should look visibly flattened and slightly frayed. Slice the bruised stalk thinly across its width. Thin slices give the muddler far more surface to work on.
5. Slice it as thinly as you reasonably can. Slice the chilli and remove the seeds and pith. Keep one thin slice back to float as a garnish. Wash your hands thoroughly once you have finished. Cut two thin slices from a piece of fresh ginger. There is no need to peel it for muddling.
6. Slice it across the fibres rather than along them. Put the lemongrass, ginger and chilli in a shaker. Add the lime juice and the sugar syrup as well. The liquid helps carry the released oils. Press down and twist rather than pounding hard. Six or eight firm presses is quite enough. Tear them roughly before they go into the shaker.
7. Pour in the vodka and the coconut liqueur. Add them once the aromatics are already bruised. Fill the shaker with plenty of cubed ice. Use large cubes rather than crushed ice here. Fill the shaker properly rather than sparingly.
8. Seal the shaker and shake it hard and briefly. Give it about ten to twelve seconds of hard shaking. Check the shaker is genuinely sealed before shaking. Hold both parts firmly with both of your hands.
9. Shake it away from yourself and away from others. Fill a tall glass with fresh cubed ice. Use fresh ice rather than the ice from the shaker. Fill the glass generously right to the top. A full glass of ice keeps the drink cold longest.
10. Use the shaker strainer and a fine sieve together. Hold the sieve over the glass and pour through both. Both ruin an otherwise well made drink. Top the glass up with cold soda water. Pour it gently down the side of the glass. Add about eighty to a hundred millilitres.
11. Adjust it to how long you want the drink. Do not stir it hard or repeatedly at all. Put a whole lemongrass stalk into the glass. It also keeps releasing aroma as the drink sits. Taste it before you serve it if you can. Add more lime or syrup if the balance is off. It should be aromatic first and hot second. Make each one at the moment it is wanted.

Technique

• Double strain it through a fine sieve as well as the shaker strainer — this is genuinely essential rather than tidy, since lemongrass fibres are woody and unpleasant to swallow and chilli seeds float and give sudden bursts of heat.
• Remove the seeds and white pith from the chilli, since most of the heat sits in the pith rather than the flesh, and use a slice or two rather than the whole chilli. Chilli heat varies enormously, so taste before serving. Wash hands thoroughly afterward — the oils burn eyes badly.
• This is a genuine alcoholic cocktail with vodka and coconut liqueur; never serve it to anyone avoiding alcohol or under the legal age.

Substitutions

• Coconut rum replaces coconut liqueur directly. For a non-alcoholic version, use coconut water in place of both spirits and keep the lime, chilli, ginger and lemongrass exactly as they are — it is genuinely good.
• Kaffir lime leaves, torn rather than left whole so they release aroma, can be muddled in with the other aromatics; they are optional but add something real.

Variations

• Trim the lemongrass to the lower pale third, discarding the woody green top, then bash it flat with the back of a heavy knife and slice it thinly — bruising splits the fibres and releases the oils, and whole stalks give up very little in a shaker.
• Muddle with six or eight firm presses rather than grinding: over-muddled lemongrass releases bitter woody flavours. Add the spirits after muddling rather than before, since muddling in spirit extracts more bitterness.
• Use large cubes rather than crushed ice and fill the shaker properly — more ice means less dilution, not more — then strain over fresh ice rather than the partly melted shaker ice. Top with soda poured gently down the side and give it one slow stir only, since hard stirring flattens it.

History

Commissioned by the Tourism Authority of Thailand in 2009 as a national cocktail built on Thai kitchen aromatics.

Frequently asked questions

What is Siam Sunray?

Siam Sunray is a cocktail from Thailand: vodka shaken with coconut liqueur, chilli, lemongrass, ginger and lime, topped with soda. Commissioned by the Tourism Authority of Thailand in 2009 as a national cocktail built on Thai kitchen aromatics.

How long does Siam Sunray take to make?

Siam Sunray takes 10 minutes of preparation and no cooking at all. The recipe makes makes 1. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Siam Sunray?

Yes, within limits. Coconut rum replaces coconut liqueur directly. For a non-alcoholic version, use coconut water in place of both spirits and keep the lime, chilli, ginger and lemongrass exactly as they are — it is genuinely good. Kaffir lime leaves, torn rather than left whole so they release aroma, can be muddled in with the other aromatics; they are optional but add something real.

What is the most important thing to get right in Siam Sunray?

Remove the seeds and white pith from the chilli. Use a slice or two rather than the whole chilli. Taste as you build rather than committing at the start.