Indian springtime drinks

[Monica Bhide]

As the weather gets warmer here I am starting to crave cold drinks. Out with the sodas and in with the divine..

Do you have some favorites that you can share?

I love to make a saffron hued lemonade and this afternoon served Indian style cold coffee (I cheated today -- usually I use Nescafe Instant coffee, ice and milk -- today it was Starbucks Coffee icecream with cold milk and crushed ice).

Ofcourse one of my favorite Indian restaurants in town serves up the best Tamarind Margaritas...

so whats on your drink menu ???

[mongo_jones]

dark rum with cold water and ice?

[Monica Bhide]

Dark rum with anything is good in my books

What are some typical drinks from Bengal Mongo??

[mongo_jones]

damned if i know. we were very happy drinking our thums ups and limcas, and, when we could get them, green daabs (the top expertly sliced off with a machete and a straw inserted).

bong, was there a bengali drink you enjoyed as a kid? gautam i am certain will come up with many, but he doesn't seem to be around anymore.

[bague25]

Spring Drinks

Juices at the Indian fruit juice stalls are what I miss a lot.

All those mosambi, chickoo, sitaphal, watermelon and alphonso mango juices and milk shakes! Sigh!

Here, I’d have a simple fresh lime juice or soda – it refreshes immediately. Also my fav fruit punch : 1 litre each mango & orange juice + 1 stick cinnamon, 1 star anise and 2 Tbsps freshly grated ginger (all in a tea ball). Let it rest for about 4 hours or overnight. Remove the spices & serve chilled with or without some fresh fruit.

As for alcohol, in Bombay it was mostly beer. Here in Brussels it is a good white or rosé wine (when it's hot) or one of the wonderful Belgian beers! For after dinner, I’d serve my homemade ginger –lime flavoured liqueur!

[Episure]

Jasmine flowers and sandalwood steeped in sugar syrup overnight makes a very refreshing sherbat and doubles up for me as a sorbet and palate refresher.

And I make similar stuff to Bague's recipe.

Sometimes I get Bel fruit from Kolkata and that makes a nice musky sharbat.

Edited April 7, 2004 by Episure (log)

[deliad]

2 specific drinks come to mind for spring / summer time:

1. Aam ka Panna

2. Kanji

In fact, we made Kanji a few weeks back and it turned out great, despite not getting black carrots here in the US.

I interested, I can post recipe / pics next time we make it.

Cheers,

[Monica Bhide]

I think it would be great if you could post recipes and pics in time. For now how about describing these drinks for eGulleeters ...

[Episure]

Frresssh Sugar cane juice! With a squeeze of ginger and lime and some flies.

[mongo_jones]

Frresssh Sugar cane juice! With a squeeze of ginger and lime and some flies.

and just the right amount of typhoid in the water. plus the mysteriously murky glass. god, i must have drunk a lake's worth of sugar-cane juice when we lived in chandigarh.

[Edward]

I drink hot tea year round, but I do have an occasional cold one. My three favorites are jal jeera, namkeen lassi, and nimbu ka paani with a pinch of ground roasted jeera.

[Monica Bhide]

I just did a piece for TDG on Springtime -- I hope that you will all add your stories and recipes there!!

[bhelpuri]

Jal jeera was mentioned.

This is one of the things I've never been able to make really well at home. Has anyone succeeded in doing so? Care to share your recipe/technique?

[Episure]

Jal jeera was mentioned.

This is one of the things I've never been able to make really well at home. Has anyone succeeded in doing so? Care to share your recipe/technique?

Freshly roasted and ground jeera and rock salt is the key.

[anil]

Dark rum with anything is good in my books 

What are some typical drinks from Bengal Mongo??

In the mid-to-late '70s there was a State Govt. brewed rot-gut which we affectionately called 'banglu' - Cheapest way to get drunk and since it was slightly flavoured easy to throw-up.

Then there was a 'mahauva' based drink which really stank up the room - Very cool and fresh. Finally there was 'toddy' - mostly popular in the coastal Bengal.

Edited April 29, 2004 by anil (log)

[bhelpuri]

Freshly roasted and ground jeera and rock salt is the key.

I got those covered.

What else?

[whippy]

What else?

this is neelam batra's recipe from "1,000 indian recipes."

she soaks and extracts the pulp from 2 ounces of a tamarind block in one cup of water first, then a second time in another cup of water.

in a blender, blend:

another cup or less of water,

4 slices of ginger the thickness of american quarters

1-3 green chilis

2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves

2 tablespoons lime or lemon juice

.5 to 1 teaspoon salt

1-2 tablespoons sugar

mix that with the previous tamarind water, then toast and mix in:

1.5 teaspoons ground cumin

.25 teaspoons red chili powder

1/8 teaspoon hing

1 teaspoon ground black salt

she lets that chill for a couple hours, then mixes in another tablspoon of minced mint leaves.

those are the proportions and ingredients, but i assembled it differently than she did. her book also includes a shorter recipe.

[mongo_jones]

or you can buy a nice packet of jal jeera powder and add water to it

[gingerly]

a friend used to make the most divine tamarind juice(also wine)with recipes from her grandmother.wonderful stuff but it takes your teeth with it.

summer.roohafza lots of ice.a slice of lime.some shade to drink it in.

[smita kaul]

Cold drinks that I can only dream about in New York City:

The concoction Ralli's just outside New Market in Calcutta makes with crushed ice, pista-badam syrup, and rabdi served in a little earthenware cup is sublime as is their thandai syrup which I make do with here.

Kesar Falooda from Shiv Sagar (Vile Parle) for which I have not found a substitute yet.

[bague25]

a friend used to make the most divine tamarind juice(also wine)with recipes from her grandmother.wonderful stuff but it takes your teeth with it.

Gingerly

This sounds wonderful. Could you please give more details??

thanks

[gingerly]

many summers ago bague -the tamarind was ripe and fresh off the trees around the house and boiled up with tons of sugar into a beautifully fresh tasting and utterly refreshing drink.i guess we overdid things because after about a week of indulgence,it was evident that enamel was taking a beating!the wine was a plan at that point so i didn't get to taste it-i wonder if it ever got made!anyway if you're patient i'll track down the recipes and maybe in time for next summer!

[Monica Bhide]

or you can buy a nice packet of jal jeera powder and add water to it

You can even get it bottled now in the US I believe. Let me see if I can find the brands

[gingerly]

i'm claiming seabuckthorn/leh berry as indian-not had it elsewhere!

[rummate]

In Bengal we get a drink called Neera, made from the palm tree . I too claim this as an original Indian drink.Maybe Bong or Mongo or Gautam has some more on this.