Aam Panna, a green Mango based drink

Aam Panna (आम पन्ना) is a very popular summer drink in North India. It’s primary ingredient is pulp extracted from boiled/roasted green mangoes. Roasted mango version is the best one though not easily available these days, thanks to lack of wood/coal fired ovens in households

Chilled Aam Panna

Aam Panna has health benefits too. It helps in fighting heat stroke and exhaustion. It quenches thirst caused by excessive sweating. In summer you can find lots of mobile Aam Panna shops in most of the cities in North India. The actual taste will vary from place to place according to the mango variety and the spices added. Mint flavoured Aam Panna is probably most popular. We also get cardamom (Elaichi), black pepper, cumin (Jeera), ginger (Adrak) flavours. You can use one or more spices to make your own version. I like it with mint, black pepper and cumin seeds. Normally I prefer it with ice but it tastes equally good without ice.

So here is my recipe for Aam Panna. This recipe for Aam Panna is not with exact measures and there are several reasons for this. One of the reasons is that the core/seed of the mangoes will vary in size depending on the variety hence the amount of pulp that can be extracted will also vary. The amount of fibre content in the mango can also give difference in the pulp quantity. Again the salt required in this drink will vary according to the inherent sourness of the green mangoes. Sugar quantity can be varied according to personal choice. It will taste good even without sugar.

Recipe

Serves: 3-4 glasses

Ingredients:

1.    Raw mangoes – 500 gm

2.    Sugar – As per taste

3.    Salt/rock salt – As per taste

4.    Black pepper corns – 4-5 corns crushed roughly

5.    Cumin (Jeera) seeds – 10-15, crushed roughly

Procedure:

 

Preparing the mango pulp:

1.    Wash the mangoes. Put them in a pressure cooker and pour water till the mangoes are fully under water. Pressure cook for 1 whistle, or if required 2 whistles.

2.    Once the pressure has come to normal, open the pressure cooker and drain the water.

     

      WARNING – Even though the outside of the mangoes may feel cool, the core can be very hot even after 20-30 minutes, so take precautions to check the temperature of the mangoes before trying to peel them in the next step. You can easily scald your fingers if not careful.

3.    Let the mangoes cool down for 20-30 minutes and then peel the mangoes. The skin should come off very easily. 

4.  Add the peels and the peeled mangoes into a deep vessel and add about 2 cups of water and squeeze out the pulp from the mangoes and the peels. Discard the peels and the core.

5.    Sieve the pulp through a large rough strainer/filter to discard the fibre from the pulp.

6.    Now this pulp can be bottled and refrigerated as it is and used later.

Preparing the drink:

1.    Take 2-3 tbsp of the pulp and to that add water about 3 times the volume of the pulp, sugar and salt and blend. Do a bit of trial and error to arrive at the consistency that you would prefer.

2.    Add the crushed black pepper corns and cumin seeds and blend again.

3.    You can add ice cubes/crushed ice before serving, although it’s optional.

Aam Panna, without ice

So try this out and share with us about your experience with Aam Panna.