Whey & Celery Refresher

I'VE never had any use for whey, except as a home remedy for an upset tummy, and so, down the drain it went whenever I made "hung curd" for dips or a cheesecake. Litres of it have since gone down the drain but that was before I attended the Upper Crust Food & Wine Show at the Lalit Ashok recently.

In his demo, Chef Mani Pathak elevated this same whey, that I thought was waste, to a sophisticated drink by using just a couple of simple transforming ingredients.

I tried it out for the first time today and yay (!) does it feel great to have moved from "away with whey" to "a way with whey"!

What you need:

400 ml whey
100 gm cucumber, peeled & deseeded
100 gm celery sticks
Salt to taste
A few drops of Tabasco



Keep the whey chilled. Chop the cucumber and the celery sticks. Blend both together and strain to obtain the juice. Mix with the chilled whey. Add salt to taste and a dash of Tabasco. Serve in shooter glasses.