JIL JIL JIGAR DHANDA

The recent celebrations in the city, Chennai Sangamam were quite a hit with the public. since they had programs at the nageswara park where I walk every evening I was witness to some awesome dances and music. but the icing on the cake was the food. we had some yummy food stalls courtesy the Taj, Rain tree and Oriental cuisine. I got a taste of the adai avial, pongal, ragi sevai and pasi parupu dosai- all of them equally delicious. but my favorite was the jil jil jigar dhanda! yeah that is a drink from Madurai. dervied from the hindi word jigar thanda- which means cooling for the body- this drink wad addicting. out of curiosity I spoke to Peer Mohammed who was here all the way from Madurai with his famous jigar dhanda. He says they boil 40 litres of milk, until it is down to 10 litres. then they add nannari syrup, sugar and badam gondu!......and add loads of ice and keep mixing and this delicious drink is ready. Absoutley addicting for the milk lover in me.......I watched the dancers from Barnala in Punjab go balle balle as I downed a second glass of jigar dhanda and said yummmmmmmm! this is what I call getting a true taste of culture :-)