Panakaram /Panakam, a delicious cooling drink prepared from lemon. For many temple festival in south tamilnadu, this panakaram(that's how we mention "Panakam" in south tamilnadu) and neer moor are the most distributed drink to the people.
In my school days, i had fond memories of having them druing ther thiruvizha(temple car festival) in my home town, Tirunelveli. During that time, people used to make panthal(small temporary store) on the road side and bring the panakaram and neer moor(Both are real thirst quencher and keep you cool in hot sun) in a large vessel to give to all the people who pay visit to the car festival.
Amma says that in those days, the panakaram was mainly made with tamarind, instead of lemon. For tamarind panakaram, soak the tamarind in water, extract the pulp and add water as needed and add the remaining ingredients as such in the ingredients list.
Even now, in certain temples, they do the same. When talking to Amma over phone last week, she mentioned that she prepared this panakam for around 100 people to distribute to the nearby Amman temple on Aadi Velli(Friday of Aadi(Tamil) month), since then i was craving for this delicious drink and made this few days back 😊 .
Now let's check out how i have prepared this delicious panakaram with lemon.
Panakaram | Panakam | Traditional Drink
Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 0 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients
Lemon - 1/2
Jaggery - 3 tbsp
Water - 1 & 1/2 cup
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Lemon - 1/2
Jaggery - 3 tbsp
Water - 1 & 1/2 cup
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
First measure and take the jaggery in a bowl, add water, let it sit for couple of mins or until the jaggery dissolves completely.
Strain the jaggery water to remove the impurities, then add the lemon juice squeezed from the 1/2 of the lemon.
Next add the salt and cardamon powder. Mix it all well together and the panakaram is ready.
Delicious Panakaram is ready to serve.
Related:How to make Neer Moor
- Ground the jaggery into fine powder using hand motor and pestle or mixie to dissolve it easily.
- Salt really enhance the taste, so highly recommend to add.
- You can use ice water for chilled drink.
- In addition to cardamom, you can add pinch of dry ginger/sukku powder too.
- If you have tulsi, add few leaves. I can't source it here, so skipped it.
