
Reena grew up thinking Indian cooking was a dark art…
The virgin bombalada – a spicy remake of the classic cocktail the virgin pina colada. Enjoy.
By Reena Pastakia
Dishoom is a relatively new Indian cafe in London serving Bombay street food. Steve and I love it and particularly recommend the vada pau and the virgin bombalada – a spicy remake of the classic cocktail the virgin pina colada. For those of you that can’t get to Dishoom this is my version of the drink – enjoy!
PrintVirgin Bombalada
The virgin bombalada – a spicy remake of the classic cocktail the virgin pina colada. Enjoy.
- Author: Reena Pastakia
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 10 mins
- Yield: 1 1x
- Category: Drinks
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 4 ice cubes
- 4 mint leaves – shredded
- 1 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon crushed cumin seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 40 millilitres coconut milk
- 300 grams fresh ripe pineapple – cut into chunks
To garnish
- 5–8 fennel seeds
- A small sprig of mint
Instructions
- Place the ice cubes, mint leaves, crushed fennel and cumin, salt, coconut milk and pineapple in a blender.
- Blend until smooth.
- Pour into a large wine glass.
- Garnish with the fennel seeds and mint
- Serve immediately with a straw.

Reena grew up thinking Indian cooking was a dark art where the quantities of spices required in each dish were innately known to a chosen few. It was only after she married an Englishman with a voracious appetite for Indian food that she started phoning home for cooking tips. She started her blog (coconutraita.com) in an attempt to document her family’s recipes and make Indian cooking accessible to all.