Meetha Sattu ka Sharbat

In Patna the sattu man works out of a steel dabba and an earthen matka and he does the same thing every single time. Two heaped spoons of pale brown flour go into the glass. Then a very little water — barely a splash — and he works it against the side with the back of the spoon until it is a smooth thick paste, and only then does he fill the glass from the matka. That bit of patience is the entire recipe. What he hands over is the colour of weak coffee, faintly grainy on the tongue, and it smells strongly and unmistakably of roasted chana. On the Ganga ghats in May, half the people you pass are holding one.

Sattu is roasted, dry and nutty rather than sweet, and the sweetener has to sit quietly behind it instead of arguing with it. Mishri does exactly that. Crushed to a powder it dissolves into cold water inside a minute and leaves a soft, even sweetness with no aftertaste, so the roasted chana still leads from start to finish. Jaggery would be wrong here — its molasses note wrestles with the roast and the drink starts tasting muddy. And because our Organic Dhaga Mishri is grown slowly on cotton thread rather than boiled and moulded, it has nothing in it but cane, so it adds sweetness and nothing else.

Lumps are the only thing that go wrong. Sattu tipped into a full glass of water clumps instantly and no amount of stirring will save it — you end up chewing pellets. Make a thick paste first with two or three spoons of water, beat it smooth against the side of the glass, then add the rest of the water slowly while you keep stirring. And crush the mishri fine, because this drink is never heated.

How to make it

1. Crush the mishri first. Pull out any cotton thread, put the crystals in a steel katori and grind them with the base of a second katori until the powder is as fine as sooji.
2. Put the powdered mishri in a jug with ½ cup of the chilled water and stir for about a minute until it has completely dissolved and the water is clear again.
3. Add the sattu to a separate bowl with 3 tbsp of water only. Work it with the back of a spoon against the side of the bowl until it becomes a thick, smooth, lump-free paste, about a minute.
4. Pour the mishri water into the sattu paste a little at a time, stirring hard after each addition. Keep going until it is a thin, even liquid.
5. Add the remaining chilled water, the black salt and the lemon juice if you are using it. Stir well.
6. Taste and adjust — it should be gently sweet with the roast still clearly in front, and just enough salt that you notice it after you swallow.
7. Pour over ice into two glasses, dust a pinch of roasted jeera on top and drink at once. Sattu settles fast, so stir again if it stands for more than a couple of minutes.

Tips

• Paste first, always. Three spoons of water and a minute of beating gets rid of every lump. Sattu tipped into a full glass will clump and stay clumped.
• Dissolve the mishri separately. In a cold drink you want it in solution before the sattu goes in, otherwise the powder hides the grains and you never know if they have gone.
• Buy chana sattu, not jau sattu. Roasted black gram sattu is the Bihari one and it has the deep roasted smell. Barley sattu is paler and much milder.
• Serve it the minute it is made. Sattu drops to the bottom within a few minutes. The stalls stir every single glass before pouring.
• The salty version. Skip the mishri, add black salt, roasted jeera, chopped green chilli, a little chopped onion and plenty of lemon. Same flour, completely different drink.