Quick and Easy home-made summer drinks

Summers usually reminds me of vacation, play time and heat. Its also a season to munch on my favorite fruit - Mango. I usually don't like summers as its very hot and sometimes the temperature gets really tough to handle. With the advancement of technology and companies launching various appliances, we have off course found our ways to beat the heat through air conditioners and prefer having aerated drinks, concentrated fruit juices and packed flavoured powders like tang, rasna, etc. We always prefer the short-cut way and don't want to spend time making anything at home. 

Weekends have become "rest- days" for us and we unwind ourselves either by shopping, going to malls, eating out, visiting friends, spending time with family or simply resting at home. Finally I decided to try something new this weekend and learnt some simple drinks that would help me and my family beat the heat this summer. All thanks to my mother in law for sharing some of these ancient, old traditional ways of keeping our selves cool this summer. I hope you all will try and enjoy making these at home.

1. Aam Panna

Since its the season of mango, lets start with Aam Panna. This is made out of raw mango (popularly kown as kairi).

Ingredients

1. Raw mangoes (7-8)

2. Jaggery (1/4 to 1/2 kg) - this depends on the quantity of raw mangoes taken and the amount of sweetness required.

3. Cinnamon powder (2-3 teaspoon) - as per the taste

4. Salt (1 1/2 teaspoon)

Method

1. Peel off the skin from raw mangoes and slice them into medium pieces.

2. Pressure cook them for 4-5 whistles ( or till are cooked and soggy) add water while doing this

3. Once the cooker has cooled down, add jaggery ( first add 1/4 kg of jaggery). Allow the jaggery to melt in the cooker along with the raw mangoes.

5. Once the mixture has cooled down completely, grind it together to get a fine paste in a mixer. Taste the mixture to check its sweetness, if required add more jaggery and grind it again till you get your desired sweetness.

6. Add cinnamon powder and salt to this mixture. (Jaggery also contains some amount of salt, hence please add salt accordingly)

Pour the mixture in a bottle and store in refrigerator.

Serve

Take tall serving glass and fill 1/4 of the glass with the concentrated mixture, squeeze half a lemon, salt if required and fill remaining 3/4 of the glass with cold water. Stir well and serve chilled. Add ice cubes if needed.

2. Pudinah Syrup

Never knew that pudinah would make such a lovely drink.

Ingredients

1. One to two bunches of pudinah

2. Sugar 

3. Water

4. Salt

5. Lemon

Method

1. Clean and wash the pudinah leaves and store it in a big bowl. The bowl should be filled with the pudinah leaves up to its brim.

2. Depending on the size of the bowl in which the pudinah is stored, take half its quantity of sugar in another vessel.

3. Add water just to cover the sugar and give it one boil.

4. Allow the mixture to cool. Grind the pudinah leaves and sugar syrup together in a mixer.

5. Take another vessel, place a thin cloth over it. Allow the mixture to pass through the cloth to separate it from its residue. What you collect beneath is the syrup.

6. Add salt to this syrup and store it in a bottle in the refrigerator.

Serve

Take tall serving glass and fill 1/4 of the glass with the concentrated mixture, squeeze half a lemon, add salt and fill remaining 3/4 of the glass with cold water. Stir well and serve chilled. Add ice cubes if needed.

The minty sweet sour and salty flavors just refreshes you in no time. Also remember pudinah has loads of medicinal values and is the best form of coolant for the body.

3. Curd delight

Ingredients

1. Home-made curds (2 cups)

2. Sugar (2-3 Tbsp)

3. Salt (1/2 teaspoon)

4. Mango syrup /Roohafza (2-3 tbsp)

Method

1 Take curds, sugar, salt and mango syrup or roohafza in a mixie and whip them together. Serve in a tall glass. Adjust the ingredients as per your taste.

Note: You can use strawberry syrup or any other syrup as per your preference.

4. Matta (buttermilk)

This is a slightly different version of our normal buttermilk.

Ingredients

1. Home made curds (2 cups)

2. Sugar (4 tbsp)

3. Salt (1 teaspoon)

4. Ginger (1 inch)

5. Chillies (2 )

6. Cumin powder (1 teaspoon)

7. Pudinah leaves ( few leaves)

8. Cold water

Method

1. In a mixer grind together curds, sugar, salt, ginger, chopped chillies, cumin powder and pudinah leaves. Add cold water to this and keep it in the refrigerator.

Adjust the taste as per your preference. You can add more sugar if you like it to be sweet or more chillies if you want it to be a bit spicy. The texture of this drink is semi-liquid.

Remember this drink taste better when the sweetness and spiciness is balanced well. Serve chilled.

5. Minty Watermelon 

Ingredients

1.Watermelon

2. Pudinah (few leaves)

3. Salt (1/2 teaspoon)

4. Chaat masala (1/4 teaspoon)

5. Ice cubes (3-4)

Method

1. Remove the seeds from the water melon. In a mixer add water melon slices, pudinah and ice cubes. Mix it well. The texture should be semi-solid like a thick thick paste. 

Remove it in a tall serving glass. Add salt, chaat masala to the drink and stir well Top it with some pudinah leaves and serve chilled.

Note: All the above recipes could have some or the other variations as per each individuals preferences and taste. 

Please wash and clean the pudinah leaves and other necessary ingredients before using them in the drinks.

So keep aside those aerated drinks and try some natural healthy drinks this summer. I hope you would try and enjoy these drinks at home and let me know how it was.

Happy Reading.

PS: Images are taken from shutterstock.com