Halloween Sake Cocktails (October 30th 2015)

Sake cocktails can work brilliantly for Halloween, especially if you accompany them with Halloween themed food and a classic Japanese horror film (click here for some recommendations with trailers from 'Gaijin Pot' to whet your appetite).

Find below simple, but visually appealing sake cocktails, click here for ingenious Halloween cocktail garnish ideas from 'about food'  and a couple of Japanese-style Halloween recipes:

Frog Spawn Sake Punch:

1 part umeshu (sweet plum infused sake)

3 parts tonic water

1 can basil seed drink, juice strained off to leave basil seeds (Available from China Town and Thai supermarkets)

Plastic frog

Ice

Add a handful of ice to a large punch bowl. Pour over umeshu and water. Stir. Gently pour over strained basil seeds for frog-spawn affect and place frog on top. Serve with a ladle.

Bloody Geisha

1 part sake

2 parts tomato Juice

Squeeze of lemon juice

Dash of Tabasco sauce or Wasabi

Dash of Worcestershire Sauce

Ice

Add 2 cubes of ice to a glass and pour over the sake, add the rest of the ingredients and stir well.

*Sake works particularly well to boost the umami flavours in this recipe.

Blood-dripping Yuzushu Spritzer:

1 part yuzushu juice (Japanese yuzu-citrus fruit infused sake)

3 parts tonic water/soda water

Grenadine

Ice

Add ice to glass, pour in yuzushu and tonic. Stir. Drizzle grenadine on top for a blood-dripping effect.

Halloween Food Recipes:

Pumpkin Head Sushi:

Click here for the Japan Centre, London's  great Halloween themed sushi recipe. 

Witch’s Cauldron Natto Spaghetti:

Top black squid ink spaghetti with natto (Japanese fermented soy beans) for a spooky, healthy treat. Natto is very sticky lending it a slimy appearance-very effective when combined with black spaghetti. Simply swap the plain pasta, for black in The Japan Centre’s recipe here. 

Please share below any more Halloween sake cocktail, or Japanese food recipes you have!