Aam ka Panna is a flavorful, slightly warming, digestive drink. This simple recipe manages to combine an amazingly mix of healthful herbs and spices like mint leaves, cumin, and black salt to tantalize your every taste bud and promise to leave you feeling refreshed, light and guilt-free after drinking a sweet treat!
Raw Mangoes (2 medium sized ones)
Oil (< 1 tsp)
Powdered Mishri Sugar (take the same amount of sugar as that of the mango pulp)
Cumin seeds (1 tablespoon)
Black salt (1 tablespoon or as per taste)
Mint (pudina) leaves (a handful)
Water
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
First, individually coat the mangoes with regular cooking oil and cook them directly over a medium flame. The skin should become charred, while the inside will be thoroughly cooked.
Step 2
Turn off the flame once the skin is evenly charred. Avoid leaving it on for too long after reaching this charred state, as the panna might develop a burned taste if the pulp starts to burn slightly. Also, make sure not to undercook the mango, as the insides won't be fully cooked then.
Step 3
Set the burned mango aside for a while to allow the internal heat to penetrate deeper into its core. Additionally, letting it sit for some time makes peeling the mango easier.
Step 4
Next, slice the pulp, ensuring it is soft, and gather it in a cup.
Step 5
Toast the cumin seeds until dry and grind them into a powder. Then, take an equal quantity of powdered sugar.
Step 6
Combine the sugar, mango pulp, roasted cumin powder, black salt, mint leaves, and a bit of water (sufficient to facilitate blending). Your concentrate is now ready.
Step 7
Before serving, add the necessary amount of water according to your taste and desired consistency. The two medium-sized mangoes my mother and I used were not particularly sour. With the quantities listed above, we were able to make approximately 1.5 liters or 1.5 quarts of juice.
Step 8
Modify the amounts of salt, sugar, and cumin powder according to your taste. Your delicious drink is now prepared! Enjoy!
Tastes (Rasa)
Sweet (sugar), sour (mango), salty (black salt), pungent (cumin), bitter (mint leaves, cumin), astringent (mint leaves).
Doshic Influence
This recipe is vata balancing but can be slightly pitta aggravating in excess and kapha aggravating if too much sugar is used. It is a great digestive aid and helps in maintaining a balanced digestion (agni). Mint leaves are kapha and vata balancing and a good carminative. Cumin is a great spice for digestion. It is heating and stimulating, so great for vatas and kaphas. However, the beauty of cumin is that it is not too heating for pittas and can be safely consumed by them also. Freshly roasted and ground spices are always higher in prana (vital life force), stronger in potency and fresh in flavor. The addition of black salt again increases the digestive and health benefits of this drink. The addition of mishri sugar in this recipe has also got a purpose. It gives the sweetness necessary for balancing the sour and salty tastes. Mishri is cooling and pitta balancing. It is vata balancing as well and doesn't increase kapha as much as regular sugar does. Don't overdo the rock sugar, especially for kaphas and during spring.
Effects on the Mind (Gunas)
This recipe for aam ka panna is a very sattvic one. It is light, refreshing, uplifting and if served fresh will surely leave you feeling calm, centered and relaxed. There are subtle ways in which this recipe can end up becoming rajasic - not adding enough sugar to balance the sourness, adding too much salt, consuming in excess during summer or during pitta aggravated states etc. Tamasic qualities can increase if stale ingredients are used or if the drink is stored for too long and then used. Usually, if stored in the refrigerator, the concentrate can last for at most 2-3 days, after which it will start to get increasingly stale.