Aam Panha

I first got to know about this drink from Dee’s blog. That was when we had ‘seen’ each other formally and were yet undecided about deciding! :D
And then a very close friend of mine, who is called a search-engine, offered to fish out some info about this guy, and got me his orkut profile (I was then not on orkut, and had hardly used it!), some pics from some site, and yippee.... two of his blog urls!!

I instantly fell for him, seeing that he has a blog and written about places, photography, etc. I knew the decision was made that moment from my side!

Well, coming back to Panha story, this was one of the things that I read in his blog that day, which he had written when he was in Bombay..... This panha always reminds me of those sweet memories.... and that stage of life.....
Ok..... here’s the recipe....

Aam Panha

Preparation time : 10 min Cooking time : 30 min Makes a jar of the concentrate Ingredients: Raw Mangoes - 3-4 medium sized, preferably sour ones Sugar - 1cup Salt - 1-2 Tbsp Cumin Seeds - 1 Tbsp, optional; roasted and finely powdered Water Method: • Peel and cut the mangoes into ½ inch pieces • In a pan, cook it in little water till it is soft. It will take bout 10-15 minutes • Let it cool a bit, and grind it to a fine paste • Sieve the ground pulp to retain only smooth paste • Transfer it to a pan, add sugar, salt and bring to boil, continuously stirring • Add the cumin/jeera powder and continue boiling for another 10 minutes • Allow it to cool and store away in a dry container in refrigerator • Mix a spoonful of this Panha concentrate to a glass of chilled water and serve, with a couple of mint leaves as garnishing. Variations: • Jaggery is used in the authentic panha, but it gives a darker color