Saturday, April 20, 2013

Mathala Naranga Paneeyam - Pomegranate Juice




Here is another post on a cool drink for Summer. Temperature is soaring up so high this year that I wonder if the trend is to go upwards in the coming years too :( Having spend my life till graduation in Thiruvananthapuram, I used to hate summers and yearned for Monsoons. We hardly have any winter season , so only season to enjoy chilled weather was Monsoon days. Moreover, the green clad Kerala looks really beautiful when it unites with water drops :)
Summer in Thiruvananthapuram is also humid, making it very hard to live. Later on I experienced Summer in cities like Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. Some of them were hot and dry and some hot and humid. But, when I traveled to US cities like Atlanta, LA, Destin, etc; people were waiting for Summer :) However, I secretly wished for winter and that year it snowed in Atlanta which is otherwise known as Hotlanta :) When Summer came in these places, people went to more outdoor activities and in restaurants 
they placed seats near the street and people enjoyed all those sights and nature! Two sides of the globe and Summer gets two different treatments. 

Summer also brings up memories of my child hood where a magical word was coined using Summer - yes, Summer Vacation :) After the final exams we all wait for the summer vacations to start. It was the time for traveling with family, visiting relatives, spending more time for hobbies, experimenting in cooking, attending art classes,forming children's club,  spending whole day in public library and float in the world of Tintin, Asterix, Famous Five and Nancy Drew and many more. At different age, there were different activities and no matter what  me and my brother  used to love those days. The dining table used to be busy with filling up and emptying tins and jugs with various snacks and drinks which were made at home. Water melon was in a high demand and Thiruvananthapuram used to get its share from Palakkad.I still remember the visual of my Mom struggling to carry huge water melon to home. Tender coconut was easily available as every other home had coconut trees. My introduction to fruits like Pomegranate, Kiwi, Musk Melon , Pear,etc happened much later in my life and my love at first sight was with Pomegranate :) Those red juicy seeds simple melts my heart away:) Here is a very simple recipe for making  refreshing juice with this fruit.

Ingredients

1. Pomegranate - 2(medium sized) , Just extract the seeds and remove pith and shell.
2. Sugar - 1 table spoon.
3. Salt -  apinch
4. Lemon - 2 (extract juice)

How to seed pomegranate?

1. Make a circular cut of the top and bottom of the fruit and remove those shells.
2. Now you will see 6 white lines on the top part, it is nothing but the edge of the pith.
3. Make cuts along the pith lines, through the depth of the fruit.
4. Now, using fingers to simply extract the seeds.

How to Make?

1.Grind pomegranate seeds in a mixer with 2 glasses of water.
2.Strain the juice , so that the crushed seeds are separated.
3.Add other ingredients to it and mix well.

Chill it and use.Ah! my tall glass is just emptied of the pomegranate juice. Now, all refreshed for another post.Yippe! 

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