Raw Mango Juice

A special thanks and a big hug here goes to my Bong beauty Debdutta Roy.

 This is the first of this season. Panha as it is commonly known in Maharashtra, an amazing way of cooling yourself during summers. Very tasty, tangy, sweet juice made with raw mangoes and some aromatics. Some people make it with sugar but I feel it tastes best with jaggery. i have used special jaggery brought to me by my special sweet Bong friend Debdutta Roy, straight from Kolkata. I read some information about how it is made and the first thought, in fact the first person  that came to my mind was Amitabh Bachchan in a raised lungi tying the pot on the palm tree to collect the Gur!! The movie was Saudagar with Nutan as the heroine. Here again the most famous song " sajna hai mujhe sajna ke liye" was sung by Padma Khanna who was not the heroine of the film!! I have wandered off the recipe now, me being a crazy Bollywood Movie buff!!

Ingredients

2 raw mangoes peeled and pressure cooked to two whistles
Nolen gur as per requirement, I used 3/4 cup
Salt as per taste
 Some black pepper powder
Few strands of saffron

You first need to remove the pulp of the mangoes, strain it well, add the grated nolen gur, salt and pepper powder and stir till the gur melts completely, mix well, strain if you feel the need or else, chill and transfer into glasses, serve garnished with saffron strands and fresh mint sprigs.

I would like to mention here that the colour of the juice is absolutely natural. I was lucky enough to get the pulp of this colour in a raw mango. The picture below shows you the Nolen Gur from Kolkata.