Chilled Avalo- Limbiya Sharbat/ Gooseberry- Lime Juice.

"Chilled Saffron~Cardamom flavored Avalo~ Limbiya Sharbat (Gooseberry~ Lime Juice)" ... Avalo/ Amla/ Gooeseberry/ Nellikai is full of Vitamin C and is good to be consumed in any form ... with the entry of winter season my juice preparations almost comes to a stop for a few months ... take a break, sit down and enjoy this cold juice with some roasted peanuts before its over ... Yummillicious .....

** Amla/ Avalo/ Gooseberry/ Nellikayi is a well known sour fruit that is famous all round the world. It is widely used in the preparation of pickle and chawanprash, which I am sure all of you know off. I have posted a few juices prepared with amla with combination of other fruits. Again I have written quite a lot about amla so I will not repeat myself again. I will be posting many dishes preparing this awesome fruit which is in season now. Do try them out coz. whichever way you consume them they are great for health as they are full of Vitamins specially Vit.C and other nutrients. I have spiced it a bit with the addition of black pepper corns and flavored it with cardamom and saffron. 

** A dash of lemon has also been added on, try this juice if you have cold as it is full of Vit.C which is supposed to be great for cold, but in which case consume it at room temperature while you can have it’s a little bit chilled on normal days. A great juice that can be consumed all round the year and benefited too. Do try out the various types of juices and sharbat included in the Blog. Instead of drinking aerated cold drinks which are very harmful for overall health in the long run. Introduce freshly prepared dishes to children from their childhood be it juices or curries, so that you develop good habits in them that will further be promoted by them and will be enjoyed so on for generations to come.

** Here is my simple method of preparing "Chilled Saffron~ Cardamom flavored Avalo~ Limbiya Sharbat (Gooseberry~ Lime Juice)" … My Style …

** Wash and wipe 5-6 large sized Avalo/ Amla/ Gooeseberry/ Nellikai, slice them from sides and discard the inner seed. Put the cut pieces in a mixer grinder along with a teaspoon of peppercorn (miri), a pinch of saffron (kesar/ keshar), 4-5 peeled cardamoms (ellaichi/ yellu) and grind to a very smooth paste with water. The paste should be ground as smooth as possible to obtain maximum juice while sieving.

** Add another glass of water to the paste and mix well, sieve it through a fine sieve and take out as much juice as possible. Squeeze out the juice of one fresh lemon (limbiyo/ nimboo/ limbe hannu) and add to the sieved juice. 

** Add in a teaspoon of kala namak (black salt/ rock salt) and approximately ¾ to 1 cup of sugar (shakkar/ sakkara), +/- depending upon individual preference and mix well. Add in 4-5 glasses of chilled water or some ice cubes and mix well.

** "Chilled Saffron~ Cardamom flavored Avalo~ Limbiya Sharbat (Gooseberry~ Lime Juice)" is done and ready to be served. Over the years, in my home we have developed the habit of having some sort of juice at mid morning which I prepare and carry to my office as it gives us a very cooling effect especially for hubby who often has to go out for few hours to attend other work. It is refreshing and keeps us going till lunch hours. Winter is fast approaching and then for a few months say about 2 months I stop cold juice and then switch over to rasams or some hot drinks. So before the winter sets in fully enjoy this Sharbat with your family and friends and reap in the benefits.

** Note : The addition of sugar is exclusively individual choice. You can always add in more or less depending upon your choice. Again, you can substitute it with jaggery or honey or another other sweetener of your choice, at times I prefer adding jaggery and it tastes great too. However, some drinks are the tastiest one with addition of sugar and I prepare it with the same as we hardly have any other type of sweet dishes at home and this few tsp sugar is the only one that serves us through the day. 

** Note : There are many mix and match combo juices in my blog, do try them out and enjoy with your family and friends. Again, I am neither a nutritionist nor dietitian to suggest anything to anybody. Many have questioned me on the combos of different types of fruit juices, well to all of them I just say, I do not know much, but I myself have been consuming them for decades now in my own home and tried all that has been posted. And I strongly feel that if mixed fruit salad that has been introduced to us for decades now works well, so should it be with juices too, however, again its individual choice..