Kairicha Panha
(cardamon and saffron flavored raw-mango drink)
This is one of the most popular drink in Maharashtra (India) and my favorite summer drink. There’s many ways this drink is made. Some make it with sugar, some with jaggery, sometimes with uncooked raw mangoes, sometimes with cooked mangoes; Some like to use very raw green mangoes, some make it with slightly ripened mangoes, etc.
One of my friend’s mom made this amazing version with raw uncooked mangoes and Jaggery, but (sigh), no one else I know can manage to make it taste the same as hers..
So this one gotta be my favorite kind, its also the most common way of making it! The recipe is a modified version of Aruna kaku’s recipe. The perfect refreshing welcome drink for summer 🙂
As per the authentic recipe you should use Jaggery. However, if the Jaggery is too brown/ caramelized, the flavor will be overpowering. So make sure to use a very light golden, good quality jaggery. If you don’t have that, use sugar. you can also use half sugar, half jaggery. Remember, the drink needs to taste refreshing and light, make sure the cardamom and saffron comes through. If the jaggery is too strong, they wont.
straight to the recipe:
You will need:
2 raw mangoes
Pressure cooker
2 cups golden jaggery OR sugar (fine/powdered) – you might need more depending on how sour your raw mangoes are.
1/2 tsp cardamon powder
saffron few strands,slightly toasted and crushed (this way the flavor is stronger)1/2 tsp salt
ya.. that’s it!
- Place the raw mangoes (skin on) in a pressure pan/cooker, put water till the mangoes are half submerged
- cook under pressure (2-3 whistles)
- Wait till they cool down, then peel the cooked mangoes and Remove the pulp. Also scrape pulp from the seed and skin.
- Strain the pulp through a fine mesh sieve or muslin cloth. This way it dissolves well when you reconstitute to make the drink. YOu can also use an immersion blender to make sure the pulp is completely pulverized to a fine paste
- Measure the sieved pulp (you will get about 1 cup from 2 large mangoes)
- Add double the amount of powdered jaggery/sugar (e.g. 2 cups powdered sugar for 1 cup of raw mango pulp)
- You may have to add more or less sugar (sometimes up to 4 times!! ) depending on how sour the raw mangoes are. If you end up adding additional sugar, you may need to add a little extra salt as well to balance it.
- Adding salt rounds the sweetness, enhances it and balances the flavors.
- Add the salt, cardamon powder and saffron.
- Fill in an air tight jar and refrigerate. Let it stay undisturbed overnight at least. That way the sugar dissolves completely and the cardamom and saffron flavor leeches completely in the mixture.
- It should be like a sweet jam the next day, if not, adjust the amount of sugar. (In fact, this can be used as a kairi jam too, tastes like moramba!) Tastes great on a piece of taste, if you are into sweet jam on toast.
- To prepare the drink- mix a big spoonful of this mix add water and ice and enjoy!!!
How about adding a dash of tequila and making Panha Margarita???!! Maybe save a little pulp+sugar mixture without the saffron and cardamon, and make raw mango margaritas! Don’t forget the salt on the rim 😉