Now that the summer is throwing scorching heat and temperature is soaring high day by day in pune, it is time to soothe the sweat with some thirst quenchers. Time is on to relish chilled lassis, icy chhach/mattha (buttermilk), juices and shakes. But one heat soother I remember from my childhood is Aam Panna. Very tangy, very tasty and tantalizing for the tongue, healthy and low-cal thirst quencher.

All we need to do is boil the raw mango until the skin ruptures, smash off the pulp, remove skin, sieve the extract and relish in salty or sweet form. That is it!! And for those of you, who want to make syrup of it, can store it for longer time and can make a drink of the syrup by simply adding chilled ice loaded water with some spoon of the syrup. I believe, that has to be sweeter. Perhaps, you need to prepare sugar syrup, add cooled down pulp and jeera(cumin) powder to it. It can be bottled and stored in fridge for a month. I have not done it myself and never seen anyone back home doing this, so I don’t have much awareness on this part. I believe, fresh is best for panna.

I still have not-so-faded glimpses of my summers during the early years of life, my mom used to prepare panna in both salty n sugary flavor as we, kiddos, loved sweet panna and my father used to take it in salty way. He used to come home for lunch in the peak burning hours of noons and used to drink panna with some finely chopped onions in it to cool down the temperature, my papa’s way to doing things his style J. That “chilled glass of something” used to be a part of our lunch without fails.

I started preparing after my marriage with the faint memories of what I used to do under my mom’s supervision. Now, I plan to do lot more with kacchi kairi this year like green piquant chutney (ummm..my fav, finger licking!!), murabba, laungi etc. Pickling the Indian way is not my cup of tea, a whole bunch of effort, let my mom do it for me J. After all, she deserves to be praised in phone calls for her ever tasty, so perfect, spicy bytes of Achar. Isn’t it??

–This glass is a normal panna, no soda added–

Time: 45 mins

Serves: 4-5 regular bowls

Ingredients:

• 1 raw mango/ kacchi kairi, the green variety
• 1 ltr. water
• common salt according to taste
• a pinch of black salt
• a pinch or 2 of freshly crushed black pepper
• 1 tsp. jeera powder
• a pinch of red chili powder (optional)
• 1 sprig of mint leaves/pudina, 7-8 leaves will be fine
• 1 green chili, not too hot (after all, we are preparing a cool drink)

Preparation:

• Clean the skin of the mango properly to remove all dirt and grim.
• Boil the kairi (raw mango) in pressure cooker for 1 whistle  with water enough to dip the mango partially, almost half. Alternatively, microwave on high for 5 minutes. Don’t forget to prick it with fork for 2nd option.
• Once the mango cools down, mash it in the same water.
• Pass the mashed pulp and water through a wired sieve and make sure, everything is passed through, except the peel. Fibers are good for digestion.
• Mix water, approx. 1/2 ltr. or according to the tanginess you like.
• Mix salt, black salt, black pepper and jeera powder.
• Red chili powder is optional but you can add if you wish.
• Blend green chilies and pudina leaves in a blender or crush in mortar and pestle.
• Add the green paste to the panna.
• Chill the panna.
• While serving, pour 2/3 part of panna in glasses and fizz up the panna with 1/3 part of soda.
• Relish in the hot summers!!

Notes:

Adding pudina and chilies is completely optional.

You can actually prepare the mango syrup and store in fridge for 4 weeks. When ever required, just add water and 2-3 spoons of the syrup. Panna is ready

To make sweet panna, add sugar instead of salts and pepper.

Soda, this is one twist, I liked so much, which happened by chance. Preferably, we should have amore tangy panna if  you mix soda or else it will take away the actual flavor.

Related articles

• Kokum Sherbet (aahaaram.wordpress.com)
• http://maayeka.blogspot.in/2012/05/mango-and-mint-squash.html
• http://shwetainthekitchen.blogspot.in/2012/04/aam-panna-raw-mango-summer-drink.html