Sweet basil Lemonade: A perfect homemade summer drink with healthy Ayurveda recommended Immunity boosting and cooling ingredients, Basil seeds and gond katira. A delicious, refreshing and healthy summer drink recipe to hydrate and boost immunity.
Delicious, cooling, hydrating and refreshing Summer drink traditional Nimbu pani or lemonade with two ingredients inspired by Ayurveda to cool down the summer heat.
Here’s Summer drink recipe which is an upgrade to regular lemonade with basil seeds and Gond katira to naturally boost your immunity and add other health benefits. Cool down this summer with this delicious basil seeds lemonade.
I am going to list down health benefits of key ingredients so that you can include them in other recipes as well.
Summers for me are hard to imagine without a chilled glass of Nimbu pani and Sherbet! Now changing the name to lemonade or Rose cooler might look fancy but whatever sails your boat 🙂
Nimbu pani, fresh lime cooler or lemonade these are still two favorite most Indian welcome beverages on a hot summer day. My Mom always adds these super healthy Ayurvedic ingredients to boost immunity and because of natural cooling effect they have on our body.
All of these add other health benefits as well to these delicious summer drinks.
Ingredients for Sweet Basil Lemonade
For making Lemonade you need three basic ingredients - Lime or lemons, Sugar, Water.
To boost immunity and add a host of other health benefits I have fortified this Indian sweet basil lemonade or sabja drink with basil seeds. Basil seeds in Hindi is known as sabja.
Also I use tragacanth gum which in Hindi is known as Gond katira. One more change from regular recipe, I have replaced regular sugar with rock sugar which is also known as mishri.
Mishri is unrefined sugar and in Ayurvedic preparation mishri is considered better than table sugar.
Health Benefits of Rock Sugar
In Ayurveda mishri is considered better choice and it is unrefined as compared to regular sugar. Mishri is Hindi name for Rock sugar. Mishri is known to relive bad cough and soar throat, improves digestion, and is a great energy booster.
It is also said good to boost vision and brain efficiency when eaten with Almonds or walnuts.
Health Benefits Gond Katira/ Tragacanth Gum
Gond katira (tragacanth gum) is one of the best cooling ingredient to consume in summers. It has a cooling effect on body and has many other health benefits. Some of the most common healthy benefits of Gond katira are
- Gond katira is good source of fibre and it helps to boost body metabolism. This also help to keep you satiated for long-time and you feel less hungry.
- If you have low immunity and frequent cough and cold helping Gond katira is said to improve immunity greatly and regular consumption builds your immunity against infections like flu, cold cough etc.
- If during summers you face frequent mouth ulcers Gond katira in lime water is said to be perfect cure for mouth ulcers.
Gond katira is one of very healthy and immunity booster ingredients and cooling properties. That makes it a perfect cooling ingredient for summer.
Health Benefits of Basil seeds (Sabja)
Sabja is Sweet basil seeds, Also known as tukmaria seeds or falooda seeds. The scientific name of basil seeds os Ocimum basilicum, but in India these are widely popular as sabja.
After soaking basil seeds look somewhat like soaked chia seeds which are healthy too. But these have different health benefits.Some of the very common health benefi of basil seeds/sabja are
- These are rich in fibre, essential fats and are rich in antioxidants and minerals.
- Basil seeds /Sabja helps in weight loss, controlling diabetes and is good for skin glow.
- Basil seeds naturally detox your body, removes bloating and helps in case of constipation.
- Due to it’s antispasmodic properties regular consumption also helps in cough.
Lime juice/lemon juice - Health Benefits
We all know lime or lemon is one of the best immunity booster and cooling food for summer. Some of the common health benefits of lime juice are
- it improves digestion, lowers blood sugar and aids weight loss.
- Lime juice also is a greater improving digestion.
- It reduces inflammation in body and lime juice is perfect for body detox.
- Lemon juice is great citrus fruit that is rice in vitamin C and that is great to boost body’s immunity to fight with common infections.
Now that we have talked about health benefits of each ingredient we know how healthy and immunity boosting this summer drink is. Lets see how to make sweet basil lemonade summer cooler.
Soaking Gond Katira
The correct way of consuming Gond katira (tragacanth gum) is by soaking it in water. Soak Gond katira in water till it fluffs up like this. You need to soak it for 3-4 hours in plain water. it provides relief from heat and prevents heat stroke.
Soaking Basil seeds : The correct way of consuming basil seeds is also by soaking them in water for 15 minutes. They swell up by forming jelly like white structure outside and black seed inside. Now you can use them in drinks and desserts breakfast puddings as desired.
Recipe Notes and tips
- Make sure to clean the sabji seeds for any small stones or debris.
- Allow them to bloom before adding in any recipe.
- Gond katira or tragacanth gum takes time to soak and fully bloom. It is better to soak it overnight in the fridge that way you can use it anytime when you want to use it. Soaked Gond katira stays good in fridge for 2-3 days.
- You can use ice cubes or just use chilled water or regular water both are fine.
More Summer Drinks to Chill Down with
APPLE ICED TEA
HIBISCUS ICED TEA
Rose Basil Lemonade
Basil Seeds Pudding
Cafe Style Frothy Cold Coffee
Cold Coffee Ice cream Shake
Sabja Drink - Sweet Basil Lemonade
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Tragacanth gum Gond katira
- 1 teaspoon basil seeds sabji
- 2 tablespoon Rock Sugar mishri, powdered
- 2 tablespoon lime juice nimbu
- 1 lime sliced
- ½ cup Mint leaves
Instructions
- Soak gond katira in plain water for 2-3 hours or overnight. When it fluffs up keep it aside. Best way to eat Gond katira is soak it overnight in the fridge in more quantity and keep it there.
- Soak basil seeds or sabja for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes the puff up to form a gelatinous structure.
- Next in a jar add 4-5 tablespoon of soaked Gond katira, 3-4 tablespoon of soaked sabja/basil seeds.
- Add in lime juice, powdered mishri and mint leaves. Crush some mint leaves or pudina for better flavour.
- Next add 2 glasses of chilled water to the jar and stir everything well.
- You can add few ice cubes if you desire that and serve this sabja drink or basil lemonade to cool down this summer.
Notes
- Make sure to clean the sabji seeds for any small stones or debris.
- Allow them to bloom before adding in any recipe.
- Gond katira or tragacanth gum takes time to soak and fully bloom. It is better to soak it overnight in the fridge that way you can use it anytime when you want to use it. Soaked Gond katira stays good in fridge for 2-3 days.
- You can use ice cubes or just use chilled water or regular water both are fine.
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