Saturday, 27 April 2013

Panakam - Panagam - Spiced Jaggery Lemon Cooler

Panakam or Panagam is a cooling drink made with lemon juice, sweetened with jaggery and spiced with ginger and cardamom. Perfect summer drink, don't you agree?



Our ancestors were genius. If you look at all our festive recipes, they all match the season. Many items included in the feast are good digestives. It never fails to amaze me. This drink is a typical example. Panagam is prepared during Rama Navami and Tamil New Year. It falls in April, the hot summer month.



This brings back childhood memories for me. I used to have it at the times of poojas like Bhagavathi Sevai. Its been ages since I drank this. This month, a lot of bloggers posted this recipe during Rama Navami and I was reminded of this. I knew I had to make it.. It tasted exactly as I remember it. You can adjust the sweetness and spices according to your taste.



Ingredients (Makes 5-6 glasses)

Water 5 cups
Jaggery 1 cup
Cardamom powder 1 tsp
Ginger powder 1 tsp
Lemon Juice 2 tbsp

Method of Preparation

1. Take water in a bowl. Add Jaggery. Let it sit for 10 minutes till it is dissolved. Filter out any impurities.

2. Add the cardamom powder, ginger powder and lemon juice. Mix well.

3. Filter again to remove all the big bits.

4. Serve Chilled! 

3 comments:

  1. well made roshni.. nice presentation..

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  2. This drink looks so lovely, looks a bit like the spicy tamarind water which accompanies puchka/golgappa/panipuri in Kolkata...you are so right our ancestors knew how to eat seasonally...love your presentation...serving the drink in steel glasses...looks really traditional :-)

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