Aam Panna (Green Mango Juice)

Blogging Marathon# 28: Week 2/ Day 3
Theme: Mango Special Dishes
Dish: Aam Panna (Panha) Raw Mango Juice

I'm used to making and drinking juices/ milkshakes and smoothies made with ripe mangoes only. So making this juice with raw green mango took me this long. I've seen recipes for aam panna (panha) on Nupur's blog, on Valli's blog and I bookmarked them to try, but kept postponing since I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Finally I took the leap and saved 1 raw mango to make this summer favorite drink.

I followed Nupur's recipe and since we like things a little sweet in our household I added a little more jaggery than recommended in her recipe. I'm so glad I finally tried it -- it's sweet, tart and oh-so refreshing. I'm sure it's the perfect drink on a sweltering summer afternoon.

This drink can be made either sweet or savory. Valli's recipe uses black salt (kala namak), ground cumin and pepper powder to give spicy kick to the panna (panha). I've also seen a recipe that had ground fennel in it. So its totally up to your taste whether you want to take the sweet or the savory route.
Mango can be peeled, chopped and then cooked jaggery until syrupy in consistency. Alternately pressure cook the whole mango, then peel and mix the pulp with melted jaggery.

Ingredients:

Raw Green Mango - 1 medium, peeled and diced

Jaggery - ½cup 

Salt - ¼tsp
Ground Cardamom - ½tsp

Method:

• Combine mango cubes with jaggery and salt in a sauce pan. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until mango is very tender and jaggery is completely melted, about 20-25 minutes.
• Then using an immersion blender or regular blender, blend the mixture to a smooth pulpy consistency.
• If the pulp looks too stringy, strain it through a sieve. Mine was pretty smooth, so I didn't strain the pulp.
• Mix 2-3tbsp of the pulp with cool water for a refreshing Aam Panha. Enjoy!!
  
  

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 28.