Summer at Karachi is not only hot but owing to its coastal location is extremely humid as well.These days the temperature is around 38 C. The traffic on the roads is visibly less and people prefer to remain indoors ,but, nevertheless people have devised methods to 'beat the heat' over time. There are various traditional home remedies that have been passed on from generation to generation. For eg its said that keeping an Onion in your pocket close to the body keeps the body protected from the harmful effects of heat !! But I can't testify to how true that is because I have n't tried it nor do I know anyone who has (For obvious reasons !!).
Some more practical measures that we take at our home are
1 - We make sure we consume atleast two tablespoons raw onions with lunch (In the form of a salad).This works especially for dry summers but is good for humid weathers too.
2 - The use of 'Keri' (Unripe mangoes) is increased. Its consumed in the form of chutneys and beverages.
3- These days we are also making sure we take plenty of lemon and yougurt in our diet.
But the most effective of all techniques is the use of the following two beverages.They work miracles,trust me.
KERI (UNRIPE MANGO) SQUASH
Return home from a hot day at work and drink a glass full of this drink with ice and whoosh it'll cool your insides and make you feel all light and cool within seconds. How to make it you ask ?
Well all you need to do is buy some unripe mangoes, boil them really well(without peeling), drain the water and once the mangoes cool down peel them and cut small pieces of the mango and remove the seed.Once this is done cook the mangoes with a little water and sugar make sure you put in plenty of sugar for unripe mangoes are sour.Mash the mangoes if you need to while cooking.Cook it with sufficient water long enough to give it the consistency of a squash.Cool it down and use two tablespoons of this mixture per glass of water to make this refreshing drink. (Do let the squash cool down first !) This squash can be used for two weeks if refrigerated.
FAALSA (Grewia asiatica) DRINK
This is a yummy drink which is not only refreshing,but, its said has a lot of other beneficial properties for the body.Not only that it has a very unique taste too.All you need to do to make it is, take a cup of berries, put them in a blender , with around 4 glasses of water, 5 tablespoons of sugar (these berries are pretty sour,but you may reduce the amount of sugar if you like ), and a little bit of salt and black pepper.And blend it well.Drain the blended mixture through a seive and vola the drink is ready to serve(Around 4 glasses) Add some ice to add to the coolness !
That's a great photo of a sunset, Najwa! And the drinks sound very interesting too. I've had mango before, but not unripe mango, so may give that a try some day. I'm unfamiliar with the berries you are using in the second drink - do you think any berries would do? Thanks for sharing your recipes!
ReplyDeleteCarl
Thanks Carl! I like the picture too,even though its just a sample picture stored in my PC. I did a little bit of research on the berries and it turns out that they are local berries, grown in the sub continent only.You may use other berries, blue berries for instance but I'm not sure how it would taste.You may give it a try, who knows you might just come up with some great new drink !!!
ReplyDeleteNajwa
Just made the falsa drink. This is very nice :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recipie!
Yael from Israel.
Just made the falsa drink. This is very nice :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recipie!
Yael from Israel.