Kairi Punha Beat the heat with some Green Mango Punch.

Hello Dearies!! How is the Sun god treating you. Is he showing you his angry side or his smiley side. Summer for us when growing up meant only 3 things, no school, mango and more mango products. It was a tradition that my mom kept up with inspite of being a working mom, making mango methamba and kairi punha from green mangoes and having Alphonso mango with poli every meal of the summer. My mom loves mango and she waits desperately for the first shocking price of the season to die down so that she can indulge in the fruit guilt free.Learning to make kairi punha was never on my do list as I had never dreamt of leaving my beloved city of Bombay. After I landed in USA, I realized my mistake and tried to learn making this, only to realize that you need fresh and a different kind of green mango. The one I got was obviously wrong with too many strings in the flesh. I had to serve the punha with a set of toothpicks....Then I resorted to making  kairi punha from Applesauce. The taste did not differ much but again the original essence was missing. Till Finally I laid my hands on Indian green mangoes in my grocery store. I immediately picked them up and made it that very night. I was in heaven in Ashland. One chilled glass of this magic drink and I have my very own tropical Bombay in my living room.

Luck was on my side that day, I could also pick up this beautiful hydrangea flower from my garden. I am not really lucky with planting and gardening. Although I try and try, I hardly get good produce. Mr. Ash does not like me planting and then somehow saying bye to the plants. He says maybe you are born with a brown thumb. But this season has been exceptionally good as I have no dead plants till now. Maybe the brown is shedding and the green is coming out..who knows...but while the flowers are still living, might as well enjoy them.

You will need
2 Big Green mangoes
1 cup sugar
1/2 sugar jaggery
few starnds Saffron
1tbspn Elaichi or green cardamom powder
Salt to taste.

In a small pressure cooker, pressure cook the mangoes with little water for 4-5 whistles. Once cool, drain the water and peel the skin from the mangoes, and take as much of the pulp out as possible. Discard the pit and the skin.Take the pulp in another pot, add in the sugar and jaggery and heat it till the pulp and sugar gets cooked for about 5-7 mins. Run a stick blender through the pulp so as to remove any lumps. Add in the salt, saffron and elaichi powder and store in a sterile air tight glass bottle when cooled. This stays well in a refrigerator for upto 2 weeks. Remember to use  a well dried spoon every time.IN short, keep any drops of water and moisture away.

To Serve;
Take a glass, fill in upto 1/4th of the glass with the pulp, add in ice cubes and fill in 3/4th of the glass with chilled water. Stir to mix the pulp and water. Enjoy the yummy kairi punha on a hot day.