[bright music] My delightful friend, Cheetie Kumar, interprets local ingredients through the eyes of someone who grew up in India, New York City, and the American South.

Everything she makes sparkles with flavor and creativity.

Today she shows us how to stir up a gorgeous watermelon cocktail with a spice kissed rim.

[bright music] Hey.

- Hey.

- How's it going?

- It's great now.

- I know, we're back together again.

I'm team's back together.

So what do you have in store for us today?

- Well, this is a post-traumatic beverage that [chuckles] I made up in the summer of 2020.

- Uh-huh.

- And it kind of got us through that summer.

- Right.

- And it doesn't always have to have booze, but it was a reward.

- But it does when it's necessary.

- Yes, exactly.

You know, most fruit based cocktails are based on syrups.

- [Sheri] Mm-hmm.

- So I'm gonna make a syrup, but basically I'm just gonna let the juice of the watermelon, I'm gonna enhance it with a little sugar.

- Uh-huh.

- So that'll just make a very quick, raw syrup.

So there's no heat involved in this because it's summer.

- Oh, I like that.

It keeps that freshness and all that.

- Yes.

Yeah.

- Alright, show me how I do this.

- So it's really simple.

- Mm-hmm.

- You take watermelon, and first, I'm not gonna add the sugar right away, but I'm gonna make like, just a juice.

- Okay.

- So I'm just gonna puree it.

- Okay.

- And then we'll strain it.

We'll add sugar and that's it.

[blender whirs] - [Sheri] Would you look at that?

Look at the color of that watermelon syrup.

So what's the pretty green one?

- So we made a cucumber syrup.

- Same way?

- That's the same way.

- [Sheri] Okay.

- Because they're related.

- Yes, they are, botanically- - I figured they wanna hang out with each other.

- Right.

- I can believe that.

- And you know, watermelon is so sweet.

- [Sheri] Right.

- And you know, I don't like my cocktails super sweet.

And the cucumber really like, adds a nice freshness.

- What kind of booze are we using?

- This is gin.

Today's gin but, you know, you can use any clear spirit really.

I wouldn't use bourbon with this, but anything that's like clear- - Okay.

- And, you know, sharp.

- Great.

And I see all kinds of interesting things on this plate.

What are we gonna do with this?

- Well I love a rim on a cocktail.

- Mm-hmm.

- I think it can really, it's like the vinegarette to a salad.

- Yes.

- You know, you can really change the experience of a cocktail by the rim and the garnish.

So I love cumin with watermelon, black pepper because it's watermelon.

- [Sheri] Mm-hmm.

- But I thought it'd be fun to like, play with some other rims.

But while we talk about that- - Yes.

- I'm gonna get these toasting.

- Looks like you've got just a skillet.

A hot- - Yep.

- Dry.

- Plain skillet.

Dry skillet.

- Yeah.

- You don't want any fat in this.

- [Sheri] Okay.

- And just pop it in there.

I'm gonna throw the peppercorn in there because it is also a seed that improves with heat.

You know, you don't have to do much, but once you start smelling it, you do wanna shake the pan around.

- Oh, I love that.

Suddenly just whoosh, it just came out.

- Yeah, can you smell it?

It's incredible.

- Absolutely.

- So one thing to note, like when you're, you know, we're gonna grind it in a mortar and pestle, you could use a coffee grinder, but you wanna wait till the seed cools down.

[light music] - While this cools off, tell me about this one.

I'm so intrigued.

I think I know what that is, but I'm almost afraid to make a guess.

- This is sumac and it's a combination of sumac and Aleppo pepper.

This has gotta be good now I think.

Yeah.

See how it's like nice and it's really- - And that's such an important thing.

It's those little things.

If you're gonna take the time to do things, do 'em right.

- [Cheetie] And you can do it as fine or as coarse as you want.

- Alright, I'm gonna call.

- [Cheetie] That smells so good, doesn't it?

- I can't get over how much aroma is being released from this.

So I'm gonna give this to you.

- Okay.

We're gonna put the rest over here.

This is a nice, like flaky- - A garnish.

- Sea salt, yeah.

- [Sheri] Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

- [Cheetie] I love this stuff.

- So is this lime juice?

- This is lime juice, yeah.

- Okay.

- So yeah, let's mix up a cocktail.

What do you think?

- Let's do that.

- So yeah, let's start with an even dip.

- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

- But again, you can go down the side if you want to.

And I'm just gonna go all the way around.

- So now we're gonna start building our cocktail.

- Yeah.

- What comes next?

- Let's go in the cocktail shaker.

- Okay.

Alright.

- And because we're fancy, as we've established last time.

- [Sheri] So fancy.

- We're gonna use these lime leaves, drop 'em in there.

Obviously if you don't have this, you don't have to worry about it or use it.

- I love that.

And so you're just muddling.

You're just smashing in to crush some of those cell walls and release that flavor.

- Wake 'em up a little bit.

Now let's put some ice in there.

- Okay.

- Like maybe a third or halfway full.

Let's just start building.

- Uh-huh.

- I'm not even gonna measure, I'm gonna eyeball.

But you're basically like maybe two and a half ounces of watermelon- - Okay.

- Syrup.

A little bit less of the cucumber.

A little bit of lime juice.

- Okay.

- And would you like some gin?

- Mm-hmm.

[upbeat music] [shaker rattles] - It's important to shake it hard and then just top it off with this soda water.

- [Sheri] Mm-hmm.

- And you can go as fancy as you want with your garnishes.

- Okay.

- You could put mint on here.

You can do the cucumber, you can put a wedge of watermelon, whatever floats your boat.

- Okay.

Let us get this up here.

[upbeat music] - Cheers.

- Cheers.

[upbeat music] Oh wow.

Watermelon, I mean, this is a watermelon thing.

The cucumber's almost like an aroma.

- [Cheetie] Yeah.

- But there's the balance.

It's sweet but not sugary.

You get the aroma from the spices and our garnishes.

My goodness, what a great drink.

- Let's mix up a pitcher.

- A whole pitcher and go find a porch.

- Love it.

- That sounds good.

You know, I love hanging out with you.

You make everything delicious and fun.

- I always learn so much from you and it's always a pleasure.

- Always a pleasure.

- Thank you.

- Let's toast to the next time.

- Yeah.

- Alright.

[upbeat music] [bright music]