Snake Coffee

Have you ever heard of snake coffee? I hadn't, and you'll have to read the bolt to find out what it is! It started out with an invitation from our good friends Monica and Ashwin to celebrate Ashwin's birthday at one of the best Indian restaurants in Muscat, the Mumtaz Mahal.

Don and I are really novices when it comes to ordering Indian food, but lucky for us Monica and Ashwin aren't. We ordered some appetizers, the Indian version of onion rings and potato dumplings--yummy! Next the waiter showed up table side with a tray of  "paanipuri" also known as "golgappa".

The waiter is pouring the green liquid into the small glass
that you see in the lower right. 

The puff has a hole in the top into
 which you pour the green liquid.

The trick here is to get the puff into your mouth, all at once,
before the liquid seeps through the puff and makes a mess
in your lap!

It was actually very good, and not at all spicy like I thought it would be. There's no way to get a small taste of it before you just chunk the whole thing in your mouth! We had a lot of fun watching everybody go around the table trying it!

Here we all are enjoying our meal of dal, a chicken curry, and more.

After our meal, we surprised Ashwin with a birthday cake.

Ashwin is quite the comedian!

After dessert, Ashwin and Monica had a surprise for us--they ordered snake coffee. The waiter brought another tray table side to make it at the table. We were in for a treat!

Ingredients required for snake coffee: Sugar, coffee, orange peel, liqueurs, and whipping cream.

And now, for the video on how to make snake coffee. I tried to do it all on one video, but it was too big to upload. So, I've divided it into sections to get it all on here.

First, you prepare an orange while caramelizing sugar over high heat:

Then you twirl the glasses in the burnt sugar. You can hear the sugar crackle on the glasses while it cools!

More twirling of the glasses in the burnt sugar.

Next, add the coffee and some liqueur and watch it go.

Now, for the snake part. This takes talent, or luck, or practice!

Finally, the glasses are filled, topped with whip cream, and served. You can taste the orange in the coffee--it's wonderful. Definitely need to have this one more time before leaving Oman!

So, if you are ever in Muscat, you want to try out Mumtaz Mahal, and definitely end your meal with snake coffee! (And take a good camera with a flash so you can get better quality pictures and videos than I did this time!)