Vimto Recipes: Tamaraah’s Vimto Ice Lollies & Other Recipes

So, we’ve established our love and loyalty for Vimto, but how far does that love go? Have you tried preparing Vimto recipes yet?

Vimto was surprisingly invented in Manchester in 1908.  At first, it was marketed as a ‘health tonic’, and soon rebranded as a syrup once the public realised Vimto didn’t cure anything. 😀

For some of us, regardless of its inability to cure ailments, the syrup knows no bounds. Oh no. Not for me anyway.

I recently had a little get away to the Per Aquum – Layali Royal Villa at the Desert Palm Resort. Kitted out in my summer gear with floating water lilo’s on hand , I was ready for my weekend of sun, pool and relaxahseeyoh (‘relaxation’ in a French accent). Then, it struck me. I had forgotten my Vimto.

For heavens sake. (eye roll) 

Out in the middle of Al Khail, with no supermarket to order from. I kindly asked my good friend Zahra if she would be so kind to ask her friend to drop some off please. I was too embarrassed to ask concierge 😀

2 hours later, my Vimto arrives. Only it isn’t the syrup. It’s the cans. Oh dear. I wasn’t ready for this. I desperately wanted my diluted cordial to quench my thirst during tanning hours. So, what do you do when your given lemons Tamara? Make Vimto Ice lollies, thats what. And so I did.. Only after making a mess of myself. Thankfully for you, so I can advise you what not to do..

There was Vimto everywhere.. So read my tips BEFORE you venture off into the kitchen!

Tamara’s Famous Vimto Ice Lollies

Tip 1. Make sure your fizzy Vimto has calmed down and isnt fizzing all over the place.

Tip 2. Do not over flow the ice lolly maker.. You will regret such a decision.

Tip 3. Have your space in the freezer ready before you carry and spill the vimto on the way to and into the freezer.

Tip 4. Make sure the space in the freezer is ready and free to situate your ice lolly maker securely, without tipping or falling over.

Tip 5. Make sure you can close the freezer door whilst the ice lolly maker is safely inside the freezer.

So, all the tips I gave you? I learned the hard way, I am sure you understand what both the kitchen, freezer and myself looked like after the 5 minute process.

Ingredients

• A can of Vimto
• Ice Lolly maker 

Instructions:

Pour Vimto into ice lolly maker. 

Put ice lolly maker in freezer.

Wait 5-6 hours.

Eat.

Well if that wasn’t enough to tickle your taste buds, I found some very interesting recipes for you and your numero uno syrup <3

Vimto Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 full chicken – cut into 8 pieces with skin on
• 2 tsp cinnamon pd
• 2 tsp cumin pd
• 1 tsp crushed black pepper
• 4 star anise ground in a motar and pestle
• 1 tbsp ginger paste
• 1 tbsp garlic paste
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 2 tbsp fresh oregano
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 cup puy lentils
• 1 big carrot
• 2 small potatoes
• 6 red chillis ( the not so spicy variety ) slit and deseeded
• 1 stalk celery
• 2 tbsps Vimto
• salt to taste

Start with marinating the chicken. 1 hour  is sufficient. In a mortar and pestle, crush the star anise  to a fine powder and add to it the cinnamon, cumin, black pepper, fresh oregano, chilli flakes, salt, ginger , garlic, lime juice and give it a good stir. Rub this marinade on the chicken massaging it well for about 5 mins. Take 2 table spoons of the Vimto cordial and pour it over the chicken and give it one more good mix. Please do not hesitate to use your hands. Your meat needs that tender loving care from you. Let it sit outside for an hour. Meanwhile chop up the potatoes, carrots and celery. Boil the lentils in a sauce pan with plenty of salted water. When just about half done turn of the heat and pour off the excess water leaving behind some. Will need that while baking the chicken. Preheat the oven to 240 C . Taking a baking dish, and spread a layer of the lentils first along with some of the water. Then place the chicken pieces and squeeze in the veg evenly. Now sprinkle over the remaining lentils and bake for 20 mins on 240 C and then cover with foil and further bake at 160 C for another 20 mins or till the veg is soft and chicken cooked through. Garnish with the chopped up leaves of the celery stalk and fresh oregano. Serve with some extra lime and hot steamed rice.

Vimto Summer Pudding

Ingredients

• 400g mixed berries (e.g. strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants), fresh or frozen and defrosted, with juice retained
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 200ml Vimto cordial
• 5 medium slices of white bread, crusts removed

Utensils-wise…

• You will need a 500ml pudding bowl, or similar domed dish!

1. Put the berries into a dish and add the sugar and Vimto cordial. Set aside to steep for half an hour. Drain the fruit and put the juices into a shallow dish.
2. Reserving one slice for the top, dip the slices of bread into the juices, one at a time, and mould them all round the base and inside of the pudding bowl, filling in any gaps.
3. Fill the centre with the fruit, then cut a circle from the other piece of bread, dipped in the juices, to fit the top of the bowl – it should reach right to the edge. If you run out of juice for dipping, don’t worry – it will seep from the fruit later.
4. Cover with clingfilm and chill.
5. After two hours, remove the clingfilm and turn the pudding over on to a rimmed plate (the rim will catch any excess juice), leaving the bowl on top until you want to serve it. This will make sure the base is full of juice and the pudding keeps its shape.
6. Remove the bowl and serve at room temperature cut in wedges, with a good dollop of clotted cream.

Taken from the Vimto Seriously Mixed Up Cookbook by David Clare and Paul Hartley.

Vimto Cupcakes

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose/plain flour flour (300 gm)
• 1 cup caster sugar (200 gms
• 1 cup butter or margarine, or a combination of the two (225 gm)
• 1/2 cup milk (100 ml)
• 3 eggs (use 4 if you have small eggs)
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 4 tbsp vimto concentrate
• 200 gm milk chocolate (like dairy milk)
• 1 tsp butter
• sprinkles, edible glitter dust

Tips

1. Always make sure eggs, milk and butter/margarine are at room temperature before starting.
2. This recipe does not make for a very sweet cake, however I find that the milk chocolate topping does help to balance the sweetness, so do not skip that!

Preheat the oven to 180C and prepare a cupcake pan with liners or grease and line two 8 inch round cake pans.

Sift/sieve the flour with baking powder and salt three times to properly aerate the flour for a lighter cake.

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter/margarine with the sugar until light and creamy. Then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla essence and mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl regularly.

Then add the flour in three additions, alternating with the milk (start and end with the flour). You can use a mixer for this on LOW speed or use a spatula to ensure the batter does not get over mixed. Make sure everything is combined then remove a portion of the batter (about a cup) into a separate bowl and add the vimto concentrate. Mix well and add more concentrate if needed.

Put some plain batter into the cupcake liners, then dollop in some of the vimto batter, and top with more of the plain batter so the coloured vimto batter is sandwiched between the plain. You can swirl the batters together with a toothpick if you want a marbled effect.

Bake in a preheated oven on the middle rack for 15 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the center of each cupcake comes out clean. (for 8″ cakes, it will take 25-30 minutes)

Remove the cupcakes from the pan onto a wire rack and allow them to cool.

In the meantime, chop up and melt the plain chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave in 10 second instalments until fully melted then add a tsp of butter (to give the chocolate a good shine) and a few drops of vimto concentrate if you want some extra vimto flavour on the cakes. Once the cupcakes are completely cool, top them with a layer of melted chocolate and add some sprinkles or food glitter dust to make them fun and festive. Allow the chocolate to set and serve!

Vimto Chocolate Cake

 

For the cake:

• 250 grams self-raising flour
• 250 grams butter
• 300 grams golden caster sugar
• 250 millilitres Fizzy Vimto
• 125 millilitres milk
• 3 tablespoons cocoa
• A pinch of bicarbonate of soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the icing:

• 200 grams icing sugar
• 100 grams butter
• 2 tablespoons Fizzy Vimto
• 2 tablespoons cocoa

Also:

• 1 cake tin 24 centimetres/9 inches in diameter
• 2 mixing bowls
• 1 sieve
• 1 saucepan
• 1 whisk
• 1 spatula

1. First things first, you’ll need to get your oven on. Set it to Gas Mark 4/180C/350F and it’ll be all set by the time your mixture is ready.
2. Sieve the flour, sugar, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl.
3. Melt the butter and Vimto together in a pan and add it to your mixture.
4. Beat the eggs and put them in too, along with the milk and vanilla extract.
5. To be honest that’s most of the hard work done now. Mix everything together and pour the whole lot into your greased cake tin.
6. Bake for 40mins. To check it’s done, you can use the old technique of putting a skewer through the centre and seeing if it comes out clean. If it doesn’t, give your cake another five minutes.
7. Leave to cool for 15mins, time to start making the icing.
8. Go back to your pan and melt together the rest of your butter and Vimto, this time including the remaining cocoa.
9. When that’s done, pour it into your second mixing bowl on top of your icing sugar and beat everything together with a spatula until it’s smooth. It’s that easy.
10. Pour your icing over the cake while it’s warm so you can make sure you cover the whole thing.
11. It may tempting to try and slice it while it’s still hot, but take it from us that this will definitely not work, so leave your cake in the tin to cool before serving.

Ahhh.. Life is beautiful..

Enjoy!! :-*

Lots of Love

Tamara xx