Aam Panna

The summer is here and so also the mango season - they go hand-in-hand. A refreshing drink to help you keep cool this summer.

My spouse brought home a few raw mangoes as well as the ripe ones. This time I decided to try Aam Panna (raw Mango juice) concentrate so that I can preserve it for a few days and serve it when my guests arrive at the weekend. I searched on the net and got this recipe (see below for the link). I made a few changes in the recipe and spiced it up a bit by adding dry ginger powder, black pepper powder and cardamom powder for that extra punch.

I liked the end result and my spouse too gave it a “Thumbs Up” ! You too can make some variations in the spices as per your choice.

Ingredients:

Raw Mangoes	2 Medium
Jaggery Powder	1/2 cup
Water	1 cup
Rock salt (Kala Namak)	1 tsp
Cummin (jeera) powder	1 tsp
Dry ginger powder	1-1/2 tsp
Black Pepper powder	1-1/2 tsp
Mint leaves	10 -12 leaves
Cardamom powder	1 tsp

Method :

1. Wash and peel the raw mangoes and cut them into chunks.
2. Cook the mango chunks in a pressure cooker for 15 mins. And when done remove from the cooker and allow it to cool completely.
3. Combine jaggery powder and water and heat it until jaggery is completely melted and when slightly cooled, filter it and get rid of (if any) impurities. Let this also cool completely.
4. Next, in a mixie jar, add the cooked and cooled mango pieces, mint leaves, rock salt, cumin powder,dry ginger powder, and black pepper powder and grind this to a puree.
5. Now mix the cooled melted jaggery with the puree.
6. Finally add cardamom powder and give it a good stir.
7. The “Aam Panna” concentrate is now ready.
8. Store the concentrate in an air-tight sterilised glass bottle and refrigerate it.

To Serve:

In a glass, add about 3 tbsps of this prepared concentrate and mix water as required. Stir and serve chilled garnished with mint leaves.

Raw mangoes

Two raw mangoes- peeled and chopped

Jaggery powder being melted in water

Steamed raw mango pieces

Ingredients

Cardamom powder added to the mixture.

Ready to serve

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time : 20 mins

Cooling time : about an hour

Makes: About 8 glasses

Note:

• Tastes best when served chilled.
• You can dilute the concentrate with water as per your requirement.
• The concentrate when stored in a refrigerator will last for few days.
• I followed the basic recipe from - http://www.tomatoblues.com/2014/04/aam-panna-spiced-raw-mango-juice-recipe.html#sthash.HvG7Otnh.dpuf and also added a few more ingredients to spice it up.