Jigarthanda| jil jil jigar thanda|How to make jigar thanda from scratch

Even with the onset of October if the sun refuses to turn down the heat,all you can do is indulge in a cool glass of jigarthanda and pray for the season change .JIGARTHANDA translates to cool heart in Hindi .The ingredients of this summer cooler are known to be body coolants .First time I came across this drink on a food and travel show "highway on my plate".The southern states of India,Andhra,tamilnadu and karnataka are notorious for their harsh summers .And it is natural that the inhabitants of these states come up with natural refreshing drinks that can keep them hydrated and fight back against the soaring sun.And one such discovery is the JIGARTHANDA which is a speciality of the city of Madurai .

The core ingredients that are the soul of this drink are badam pisin/almond gum and nannari sharbath/sarsaparilla syrup.These ingredients can be found at ayurvedic medicine stores or can be procured online from amazon too .I have used home made nannari sharbath/sarsaparilla syrup and Pista badam kulfi for this recipe.You can substitute with store bought vanilla ice cream too.The flavour and colour of nannari decides the taste of the drink ,so use good quality syrup for the drink. As I have used home made syrup, very little quantity was enough hence the colour hasn't changed much.

Recipe for jigarthanda

cooking time :30 minutes
soaking time :8 hours
cooling time ;4 hours
servings:4

Ingredients

• 1 litre-full cream milk
• 1/4 cup-sugar
• 1 tsp-badam pisin/almond gum
• 4 tbsp-nannari /sarsaparilla syrup
• 4 scoops-ice ream 

Procedure

1.Check for any impurities in the badam pisin and soak it in 1 1/2 cup water overnight .Next day you can see it has swollen and has a jelly like texture.If any extra water remains sieve it and store in refrigerator.

2.Boil milk in a pan and reduce it to half the quantity while stirring it occasionally .

3.Once reduced add sugar to milk stir it until dissolved and chill it in refrigerator.

4.Once the milk has cooled add nannari syrup to the milk .

5. To serve add badam pisin equally among four glasses.

6.Add the nannari flavoured chilled milk followed by a scoop of ice cream .

7. Serve it chilled immediately.