Aam Panna

By the middle of May the raw mangoes stacked in the mandi are hard and dull green, and when you cut one the knife comes away sticky with sap. In old houses in Lucknow and Delhi they were not boiled at all — they went straight onto the coals of the angeethi and were turned with tongs until the skin blistered black and split. The pulp squeezed out of that skin is hot, fiercely sour and faintly smoky. Poured over ice, the finished panna is a hazy green, almost opaque, and the first mouthful makes your jaw tighten for a second before it rounds off.

Raw mango is a big, loud sourness, and it decides everything about the sweetener you use. Ordinary sugar meets it head-on with a flat sweetness that sits on top, and the drink starts tasting like bottled squash. Mishri works differently. Crushed and stirred into the still-warm mango pulp it dissolves in about a minute and settles beneath the sourness instead of over it, so the panna stays sharp at the front and only turns round at the very end. It also carries no molasses flavour at all, which is what keeps the roasted jeera and the black salt clear and readable.

The one thing to get right is when the mishri goes in. Add it while the pulp is still warm from the pan and it goes into the concentrate completely. Add it to cold pulp and crystals will sit at the bottom of the jar for days, sweetening the last glass and leaving the first one sour. Stir until the back of the spoon feels smooth against the bowl, not gritty.

How to make it

1. Wash the mangoes. Pressure cook them whole with 2 cups water for 2 whistles on medium flame, about 8 to 10 minutes. In an open pan, boil covered for 20 to 25 minutes until the skin wrinkles and a knife slides in with no resistance.
2. Let them cool until you can hold them. Peel off the skin and squeeze all the pulp off the stone into a bowl. Scrape the inside of the skin with a spoon too — a lot of pulp clings there.
3. While the pulp is still warm, add the crushed mishri and stir for about a minute until the mixture is smooth against the back of the spoon.
4. Tip the sweetened pulp into a blender with the mint leaves and 2 tbsp of the mango cooking water. Blend to a smooth, thick paste.
5. Return it to the bowl. Stir in the roasted jeera powder, black salt and black pepper. Taste — it should be aggressively sour and salty at this stage, because it is a concentrate.
6. Pour into a clean glass jar. This keeps in the fridge for a week, or in the freezer for two months.
7. To serve, put 3 tbsp of the concentrate into a tall glass. Add a splash of chilled water and stir until the paste loosens completely, then top up with about 200 ml more chilled water.
8. Add ice, bruise a couple of mint leaves between your palms and drop them in. Serve at once, with a little black salt on the rim if you like.

Tips

• Roast the mangoes for the better version. Char them whole on an open flame, turning with tongs until the skin is black and split, about 10 minutes. The pulp comes out smoky and the panna tastes like the ones from Old Delhi.
• Sweeten while warm. Mishri goes into warm pulp in a minute. In cold pulp it takes an hour and never fully dissolves, so the concentrate ends up uneven.
• Roast your own jeera. Dry roast cumin seeds on a low flame for 2 to 3 minutes until they darken and smell nutty, cool, then crush. Packet jeera powder tastes of dust next to it.
• Sourness varies. Totapuri mangoes are milder, desi kairi is fierce. Mix one glass first, taste, and adjust the mishri in the jar rather than in every glass.
• Freeze it in an ice tray. Two cubes of panna concentrate plus cold water is a glass in thirty seconds, and it lasts the whole summer.