I am living in Madurai and even after 3 years of blogging, I haven’t blogged about the famous Madurai drink Jigarthanda. You can see a Jigarthanda stall at every nook and corner of Madurai. They also sell it in push carts. Though I have been in Madurai for nearly 7 years, I got to taste this drink only few months back. And then whenever I see a jigarthanda stall, I never miss it. As it is available everywhere, I never thought of making this at home. My favourite Jigarthanda is available at Murugan Idli Shop near Meenakshi Amman Temple and opposite Pothy’s. When I posted Falooda recipe, one of my friends suggested that I post Jigarthanda also. These two drinks are quite similar but completely different in taste. While falooda has noodles in it, jigarthanda has badam gum/ pisin instead. Both have flavoured milk and served with icecream on top. But jigarthanda is plain without any garnishes. As you all know Madurai is extremely hot and people are always on look out for quenching their thirst and cooling thier body. This drink serves both. Badam pisin and nannari sharbat, both ingredients of jigarthanda, have nice cooling properties. The home made icecream served along with this makes it an exotic drink.
In Madurai, where ever I have tasted Jigarthanda, it looks light brown in colour. And when I was going through the recipes on net, they were all pink in colour just like Falooda. So to recreate the Madurai version, I started experimenting. I saw so many videos, read a lot of posts and then started out on my experimenting. I didn’t strive hard. I had an idea and it was completely successful at the very first attempt. When I served it to hubby dear, he was full of praises. He was happy that I have recreated it perfectly. Now I will share with you the method I used to make this drink. First I reduced 2 litres of milk to 750 ml. This changes the colour of milk to light brown. And to this milk I added a cup of home made palkhova which is also brown in colour. You need to use cow’s milk to get the colour. Then I chilled half the milk and used the remaining to make the ice cream. And now it is time for Badam Pisin/ Almond Gum. There are so many versions out there, I even came across one using china grass but Badam Pisin creates the authentic jigarthanda. Soak 2 tbs of badam pisin in water for 8 hours. It will increase in volume and become jelly like. It is so beautiful to look at. Strain it through a fine sieve and refrigerate. Now you can assemble the drink at any time and enjoy it.
I made a video demonstrating the jigarthnda. The video playback is in Tamil and for those who doesn’t understand Tamil, there are subtitles in English. In the video I have used store bought khova and so the colour is light but if you make paalkhova at home, it will be nicely brown.
This is the Almond Gum/ Badam Pisin.
Two tablespoons of the gum made this much of jelly once soaked.
How cute is that???
This is the nannari sharbath which is another main ingredient.
Mix together the reduced milk, two to three table spoons of badam pisin and generous amount of nannari sharbat in a bowl. Pour it into a glass.
Scoop out the ice cream made with reduced milk.
Ingredients:
Home made Vanilla Ice Cream:
Milk-2 cups
Fresh Cream-2 cups
Sweetened Palkhova-200 gm
Sugar-1/2 cup
Vanilla Essence-2 tsp
Corn Flour-3 tbs
Sweetened Thick Milk:
Milk-2 cups
Sweetened Palkhova – 250 gm
Almond/ Badam Pisin – 2-3 tbs
Nannari Syrup
Procedure:
Ice Cream:
Bring milk to boil.
Mix corn flour and vanilla essence to 1/4 cup of room temperature milk.
Mix together 1/2 cup of milk with paalkhova.
Add corn flour mixture to boiling milk and whisk until it is completely cooked and becomes a little thick.
Add the paalkhova mixed milk and allow it to cool completely.
Add cream and whisk with a wooden spoon.
Transfer to a plastic box and refrigerate.
Take the box out of refrigerator after an hour and whisk it with a wooden spoon.
Return it back to the freezer.
Repeat it 5 times.
Then leave it in freezer for six hours.
Sweetened Milk:
Mix together reduced milk and palkhova and chill in freezer.
Badam Pisin:
In a bowl mix together badam pisin and water and set aside for 8 hours.
The next day, pour it into a sieve and filter out water.
Store in a box in fridge until needed.
Assembling:
In a bowl mix together the milk, nannari syrup and badam pisin.
Pour into serving glass.
Top with a scoop of ice cream and serve it immediately.
Add it on top of the milk and pour a tbs of nannari sharbath on top. Enjoy!!!!
y
Jil Jil Jigarthanda Recipe
Ingredients
Home made Vanilla Ice Cream
- Milk-2 cups
- Fresh Cream-2 cups
- Sweetened Palkhova-200 gm
- Sugar-1/2 cup
- Vanilla Essence-2 tsp
- Corn Flour-3 tbs
Sweetened Thick Milk
- Milk-2 cups
- Sweetened Palkhova - 250 gm
- Almond/ Badam Pisin - 2-3 tbs
- Nannari Syrup
Instructions
Ice Cream
- Bring milk to boil.
- Mix corn flour and vanilla essence to 1/4 cup of room temperature milk.
- Mix together 1/2 cup of milk with paalkhova.
- Add corn flour mixture to boiling milk and whisk until it is completely cooked and becomes a little thick.
- Add the paalkhova mixed milk and allow it to cool completely.
- Add cream and whisk with a wooden spoon.
- Transfer to a plastic box and refrigerate.
- Take the box out of refrigerator after an hour and whisk it with a wooden spoon.
- Return it back to the freezer.
- Repeat it 5 times.
- Then leave it in freezer for six hours.
Sweetened Milk
- Mix together reduced milk and palkhova and chill in freezer.
Badam Pisin
- In a bowl mix together badam pisin and water and set aside for 8 hours.
- The next day, pour it into a sieve and filter out water.
- Store in a box in fridge until needed.
Notes
Assembling:
In a bowl mix together the milk, nannari syrup and badam pisin.
Pour into serving glass.
Top with a scoop of ice cream and serve it immediately.
In a bowl mix together the milk, nannari syrup and badam pisin.
Pour into serving glass.
Top with a scoop of ice cream and serve it immediately.
Yummy drink. Love to try this.
wow such a long and tedious one… Looks super tempting.. love the last click… just wow!!!
Wow ! Super sharing.
Never heard of it , looks delicious !
Looks stunning Gayathri, though I have been to Madurai so many times, I never tasted this. I came to know about this drink from my colleague who hails from Madurai and is always praising this..nice to know I have a foolproof recipe to try it myself!..great job as always!
Yummy drink, is very similar to mawa barf dhoodh we is very popular in gujarat during summer
Thanks for posting this recipe. Is there a recipe for paalkhova?
I love to drink this!!!!
What is Badam pisin? Can we substitute with guar gum? Any idea how to make badam pisin?
As i don’t know how guar gum looks like, I am unable to answer. If soaked, if guar gum becomes fluffy, then try using it. Badam pisin cannot be made at home. It is available in market. We just need to soak it it water overnight to make it fluffy…
I tasted jigarthanda recently and I loved it. I was searching for many recipes online but none looked like the original.
By looking at your recipe, I am sure this can surely recreate the original. Thanks a lot for posting this. Really appreciate it.
Thanks
Mani
I saw several recipes but none looked like original. But this one definitely promising. Thanks a lot for posting this.
When making the home made icecream, when do we add the reduced milk mixed with palkhova ?
Hi, you need to mix it along with corn flour and sugar..
Hi,
Appreciate your efforts to post the recipe online. I am getting everything else right except the brown color as seen in your pictures. Can u guide me through how to get tht paticular color? Shd i add nannari before boiling the milk?
Thanks in Advance!
Hi, Thank you. As for the colour of the jigarthanda, it depends mostly on the colour of reduced milk. You don’t have to add nannari syrup before boiling. It is mixed only during serving. Usually when you reduce milk it turns to brown colour. But if you are using buffalo’s milk, it tends to remain white even after reducing. May be that is why you are not getting the colour.
Luks yum…urs luks close to d original I have in madurai….even I don’t find d pink versions to be real
Hi thank you for sharing the recipe. Will you be able to tell on how you make your home made palkhova. Thank You.
Hi, you can boil reduce 1 litre milk to make a thick khova and add enough sugar to sweeten it.
hi
i am from delhi..from where can i get nannari syrup..any website you suggest
There is one annastores where they sell nannari syrup online, but I haven’t personally bought there. So couldn’t vouch for the reliability of the site.