As you all know, the scorching heat in India is UNBEARABLE. The Sun does not seem to go into hibernation. It is never too late to involve yourself in these easy to make summer drinks at home. Hot days and fruity drinks will make your day. So, it would be a perfect idea if you learn of some fresh homemade drinks for summer to serve your friends and family to rejuvenate them with new energy.

Here are few Home Made Summer Drinks in India which will cool down your parched throat:

1. Lemon Drink – Nimbu Paani / Shikanji [Easy Summer Drink]

Nimbu Paani is a perfect heat stroke reliever. And this drink will just take two minutes for you to make it and drink it. Your parched body will automatically experience a change. The sour taste of Nimbu will fight the heat. Let me help out with Nimbu Pani recipe,

Time: 10 minutes, Servings- 4

A one-liter cold water

A half sliced lemon

Lemon juice

Four tablespoon Sugar/ Salt

juice of pudina leaves

cubes of ice

Take a container to pour the water and add sugar or a bit of salt. Stir to dissolve it. Adds the lemon juice till it is tart, and if it turns out to be more sour then add some more water to it. Add the juice of pudina leaves to it. Garnish it using the sliced lemon and serve the chilling summer drinks with ice floating on top of it.

2. The famous lassi: Drink made of curd

One can not return from Punjab without having the sweet lassi. It is summer drinks with which the Punjabis greet any guest. But it is still unique in all over India as it will quench your thirst with new energy. You cannot miss this drink if you are around here in India during the summer. How to make sweet lassi you need:-

Time – 15 minutes, Servings -4

Six to seven bowls of chilled Curd or Yogurt

10 tablespoons of sugar

Ice cubes and 2 cups of water

Cardamom powder and 2 tablespoons rose water

Few strands of saffron

It’s so simple that it will be before you within minutes. Pour the curd into a container. use a blender or a wired whisk to mix the curd till it smoothens. Add sugar to water stir till it dissolves. Now churn the Madani or the lassi in the lassi mixer. Add the rose water, few saffron strands, and Cardamom powder into the mixture churn it again. Serve it garnishing it with sliced fruit on top of it and let the few strands of saffron float.

It is amazing to know that a similar drink is called shrikhand or Piyush in Maharashtra and Gujarat. But it is thick creamy and sweeter than lassi. And the buttermilk or yogurt is whisked with Nutmeg and cardamom, which imparts a great deal of aroma and flavor to the lassi recipe.

3. Sattu ka Sharbat

Sattu drink is a very famous drink in Eastern India, especially in Bihar. The summer roads will be filled with these summer drinks (sattu sharbat) stalls selling this drink. But if you make it at home, you will enjoy the taste more. It also depends on the roasted gram powder, so get hold of a good quality one. Let us learn the ways to make sattu drink, which will fill your stomach as well.

Time – 15 minute, Serving- 1 glass

Four to five spoons of Roasted Gram flour

Chilled water

Six spoons of lemon juice

Rock Salt

Roasted Cumin powder

Chat masala powder

Ice cubes

For this, just pour the cold water in a container. Put the Roasted gram flour into the water. Pour the lemon juice into it. Blend the mixture properly. Add the proper amount of salt and two small spoons of the cumin powder. Pour it into the glass and sprinkle Chat masala on it. Put a few cubes of ice and serve the chilled instant summer drinks.

Does this not look amazing to try sattu recipes just once, and the summer drink will habituate you forever.

4. Imli ki Chutney : A fantastic summer drink recipe

Oh.. I can see the mouths watering and the yes it is because of tamarind. Imili recipe is a famous fruit to tackle the heatstroke during summer. It is often suggested that whoever suffers from a bleeding nose due to the heatwave should have this meethi chutney. To wade away the dryness and scorching effect of the summer stroke, mothers at home serve this chatni generally during lunch. Let us have a look at how to make Imli ki chatni.

For 4 people, time: 15 minutes

6 to 7 pieces of ripening tamarind.

A bowl of sugar

water and sieving machine

few ice cubes

Fresh 3-4 Pudina leaves

Soak the tamarind in water for two hours. Sieve the water out after. Mash it properly, removing the seed out from it. The paste of tamarind is ready. Dissolve 10 to 15 tablespoons of sugar in a bowl of water. Add the paste to it. Blend it properly. Leave it to cool. Serve it chilled topping it with the ice cubes. Garnish it with fresh pudina leaves.

5. Chanch or ButterMilk

Buttermilk drink is one of the popular summer drinks made of yogurt and very popular in North India. It is not a cooling summer drink but aids in digestion and fills your stomach. You need not worry as it just takes a few minutes to be ready for it. Traditional thali meals serve it in restaurants. It is known as Neer Mor Drink in South India.

Servings- 4, Time- 15 minutes

2 cups yogurt

2 cups yogurt 2 cups of water

Roasted cumin powder

Black salt

Mint leaves or coriander leaves

Asafoetida powder, ginger juice, Fennel and curry leaves

7-8 ice cubes

Blend the yogurt and water properly. Add Asafoetida powder, curry leaves, 2 to 3 drops of ginger juice. and again blend it. Put some roasted cumin powder and black salt. Stir it well. Pour it in the glass and sprinkle some cumin powder. Garnish it with the mint leaves and serve it chilled with some ice cubes in it.

6. Watermelon Juice

The fruit itself has refreshing energy when taken during the summer. Because it has 90 percent of water content, it is the best fruit to give solace to your parched throat and body. Watermelon juice is good for the stomach as well. But I feel there are seeds into it which make it difficult to eat. So you can make a delicious drink out of the pulp of the fruit.

Watermelon juice recipe:

Servings- 4, time- 5 minutes

10 cups of the sliced pulp of Watermelon

Black Salt

Ice cubes 5-6 pieces

Mint leaves to garnish it

Blend the pulp, adding 2 ice cubes into it.

Add Black salt and stir it. Pour it in the glass.

Add a few cubes and garnish it using the mint

leaves. Ah!! what a cool summer beverage.

7. Aam Panna

The summer is in with an abundance of Mango recipes. There are pickles made of mango, ripe mangoes decorate the lunch every day, but there are sweet, salty, and sour; aam panna, which will make you feel re-energized with this homely drink. There are two types of Aam Panna. One- can be salty and Spicy other – sweet. There can be two ways to use the raw mango pulp- We can roast the raw mango, or we can boil it in the pressure cooker. Aam Panna Recipe is a concentrated drink which is very famous in East India. How can you not try this mouth-watering summer drink?

Servings- 4, time- 20 to 25 minutes

Four Raw mangoes ( kachhi kairi)

Bowl of Sugar

Black salt

Mint leaves

Roasted cumin powder

Chilled water

Ice cubes

Boil the raw mangoes in the pressure cooker or roast it properly so that the pulp gets spongy. Let it cool. Then peel off the skin properly. Mash it remove the seed. Blend it properly in the blender. Dissolve four spoons of sugar in one cup of water. If you want to have sweet aam panna, then pour the sugar syrup into the blender and stir it well. But if you’re going to have Spicy salted aam panna, then add black salt and cumin powder with few mint leaves and blend it again. Pour it in the container, add four cups of water and stir it well. Pour it into the glass and serve it chilled, adding the ice cubes into it.

8. Panakam, Panagam or Panaka – A South Indian Summer Drinks

Panakam is a very common cool drink during Ram Navami in South India. As compared to other cooling beverages, this drink is much healthier. And it will be ready before you within minutes.

Servings- 3, Time- 10 minutes

Panakam Recipe:

Half cup chopped jaggery

3 cups of water

1/4 th teaspoon ginger powder ( saunth)

1/8 th Teaspoon Black pepper

1/3 or half teaspoon Cardamom powder

2 tablespoon lemon juice

A pinch of edible Camphor powder

few holy basil leaves/ Tulsi

Few ice cubes

Black Salt

Dissolve the jaggery in the water and filter it to remove the impurity from it. Add lemon juice into it and stir it. Add cardamom powder, Black pepper, salt, and ginger powder. You can put the Camphor and tulsi leaves as you wish. Served as a drink to God has a belief that this will keep the Lord Rama happy, and thus, the kingdom of his will also be happy. These summer drinks will keep moderating the human mind.

9. Thandai

Thandai is a very famous North Indian drink during the colorful festival of India: Holi. The word means a cool drink. It is a drink which celebrates the coming of Spring, which will be followed by summer.

Servings-8, time- one and a half hour

Thandai Recipe:

one cup Hot water

3 tablespoons almond or 30 grams

2 table spoons of Pistachios or 20 grams

2 table spoons poppy seeds/ khus khus

half cup melon seeds or 30 grams

2 table spoons rose petal, or 2 spoons rose water or 2 spoons gulkand

1 table spoon fennel seed/ saunf

half tablespoon whole Black pepper/ sabut kali mirch

3-4 green cardamom seeds without husk.

half cup sugar

1 glass chilled milk

Few strands of Saffron/ Kesari

few ice cubes

Soak the seeds- fennel, pistachios, Poppy Seeds, Almonds, melon seeds, black pepper, and the rose petals. Leave it overnight. Cover the container well before you leave it to be soaked. Then pour the ingredients into a blender or a good mixture. Add sugar or gulkand to it and the cardamom seeds. Then add a few strands of saffron. Blend it properly and keep the paste properly in a container. Refrigerate if not using instantly. If not, then take the paste in the glass and add chilled water or milk into it. Mix it well and add some ice cubes into it. Garnish it with rose petals and few strands of Kesar.

Take care that if you are using gulkand, then reduce the amount of sugar.

Isn’t it cool summer drinks to start with the summer.

10. Pan Gulkand Drink or Paan shot

A new drink that will make you feel attached to the country. Yes, it is made of paan leaves, paan patta, or betel leaves as we say it in English. It is said that the leaf has an aroma and flavor- salty, sour, astringent, minty, sweet. So if you haven’t tried it ever, do go for it. Let’s check out this summer drink Gulkand recipe.

Servings- 4, Time- 15 minutes

7-8 betel leaves, or enough to have a half a cup puree

4 cups of chilled milk

half a teaspoon almond powder

half a tablespoon Sabza seed or basil seed soaked in water.

gulkand enough to sweeten properly

2 teaspoons Roafaza

chopped fruits

ice cubes

basil leaves to garnish

Wash the betel leaf properly and make the puree of it.

Add chilled milk and gulkand into it. Stir it well.

Add the basil seed and almond powder to it. Stir it well.

Then add the chopped fruits to it.

Serve it chilled, adding the roafza and ice cubes. Garnishing it

with basil leaves.

Did you know about the importance of the leaf to make such a cool summer drink?

11. Nannari Syrup Drink

Nannari is a very known South Indian drink. There is a special plant called Nannari Plant. It is also known as Indian Sarsaparilla: plant native to India. The roots of this plant are used, and it has a special aroma which makes the drink to have its own special aroma. It is a blood purifier, and it is used as a remedy for urinary infection. And in Missouri, the same summer drinks is known as Jigarthanda.

Servings- 4, Time- 25 minutes

100 grams of nannari powder ( Sarsaparilla, Sarsaberilla, haalubali, karala)

5 cups of water

5 cups of jaggery

2 tablespoon lemon juice

ice cubes

Take five cups of water in a pan and add the nannari powder. Mix well, cover the container and leave it for 2 to 3 hours. Add five cups of jaggery in the same pan. Keep the pan in a low flame and stir it till the jaggery dissolves. Cook it for 20 to 30 minutes till the syrup reduces to be 1/3 rd of the earlier. Let the syrup cool and then Sieve it using a muslin cloth. Refrigerate the syrup. And use when you require it. If you want an instant syrup, then add some chilled water and the lemon juice. Serve chilled adding ice cubes to it.

Jigarthanda is made out of milk and almond gond, raisin/ badam pisin. And to it, we add the nannari syrup.

12. Bel Ka Sharbat/ Wood Apple Juice

A very popular drink in North India. It’s very common in each nook and corner o the city. It is made out of the bel fruit. This is a deciduous tree very common in the northern part of India.

Serving- 4, time- 15 minutes

One ripe bel fruit

5 tablespoons sugar

Four glass of water

Ice cubes

Scoop out the pulp of the fruit properly. Remove the seeds from the extract and add sugar and water. Mix it properly in the mixture. Sieve out the fibers from the drink. Pour it in the glass, add ice cubes, and serve it chilled.

So, remain cool having these homemade summer drinks. This summer learns a few more ways to keep your family and yourself happy. These drinks also help us keep our body in good health as much help in digestion. Let me know if you like the recipes in the comments.