Jal Jeera ~ A Beneficial Drink of Summer Season

  In Summer, it's essential to keep our body cool and keep our digestion in track. Jal Jeera, this Indian Summer drink, serves exactly the above mentioned purpose. It is served as an appetizer, also as an accompaniment with meals. It's an amazing refreshing and thrist quenching summer drink, which is not only healthy, but also very  and cools your body
   Jal Jeera is an concoction made of tamarind pulp (imli/tetul), Mint leaves(pudina), coriander leaves(Dhaniya), flavoured with roasted cumin seed(jeera), black salt, amchur(raw mango) powder & a bit of chillies, some also add a hint of ginger. Each ingredient plays an important role here – tamarind & mint have cooling properties, cumin, black salt and amchur powder helps in digestion. Many people also use fresh lemon juice instead of tamarind pulp in their preparation.

  To make tamarind pulp, soak a lemon sized ball of tamarind into water for half an hour, then mash to seperate seeds and fiber to extract the pulp. Nowadays, readymade tamarind pulp is also easily available in Indian stores. Quite tangy and spicy in taste, this summer thrist quencher is usually served with boondi (tiny puffed and crispy balls of chickpes flour/besan) and ice cubes on top. It can also be served as pani(water) for Indian street food- Pani Puri/Gol Gappa/Phuchka.

You Need : (for 3-4 serving)
Tamarind : 2, small lemon sized balls of tamarind, is using readymade ones, use 2 big tblsp. full
Mint leaves : 1/4 cup
Coriander leaves : 1/2 cup
Roasted Cumin seeds : 1 tblsp.
Black salt(kala Namak) : 1 tsp.(can substitute with table salt)

Amchur Powder : 1 tsp.
Sugar : if needed, add according to your taste
Chilli powder : a pinch
Water as needed
Lemon slices (for garnishing)
Ice cubes (for garnishing)
Boondi for garnishing

How To :

• Preperation : 1) Roast the cumin seeds on a hot tawa until golden brown, remove and crush into powder. 2) Grind the mint leaves and coriander leaves with sufficient water into a smooth paste. 3) Soak tamarind into water for half an hour, then mash to seperate seeds and fiber. Add few tablespoon of water in the rest of the pulp and squeeze the pulp. Keep aside. I used store bought tamarind pulp, it really saves a lot of time. But note that store bought ones are quite salty in taste. Add salt accordingly.
• In a big bowl, add water, tamarind extract, mint-coriander leaves extract and all the other spices. Check the taste and adjust accordingly. Once all the spices are mixed and it's ready, sieve the whole mixture thru a fine siever. You can chill the whole drink in refrigerator for couple of hours or have it with ice cubes.
• Serve on a tall glass and garnish with boondi, ice cubes and lemon slices. I didn't use Boondi.