Mint & Orange Lemonade | Cooking With Kin #9#

Online Strangers turned best buddies! :) That summarizes my friendship with Manali Shah. We met online 2 years ago and today, she's one of the closest friends in my life! I've always been paranoid of online friends. But I guess Man broke the taboo! ;) She has a superb blog titled Nothing Intellectual. And today, she is here with a cool Mint Lemonade for my CWK Series...

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It doesn't matter which part of India you live. Unless you are in some dreamy hill station, chances are, the summer makes you mad. (Kavi interrupts: I love sweaty hot summers! :D)

Counter the heat with Mint and Orange Lemonade. Sounds good? It is! Takes less than 30 minutes to make concentrate that fills up an entire 1kg ketchup bottle. Kids are bound to love it and if you entertain often, this is sure to invite a barrage of questions. ;) 

It's mint-y, lemon-y, orange-y and ginger-y. What else can you possibly want? Did I mention this beverage is super economical?  It looks no different from a nimbu pani (lemon juice), but that's because I don't believe in adding food colours. I can't think of a better summer companion. In case you can, let me know about it on my blog. ;)

Mint - Ginger - Orange Lemonade Recipe

(source: Lite Bite)

Ingredients;

1 liter water
1 kg granulated sugar
2 cups Mint leaves
A small piece of Ginger
3 Lemons
2 Navel Oranges
A pinch of Salt

Method:

• Pluck the mint leaves and wash them with clean water. 
• Scrap the ginger clean and Grate the ginger,
• Grate the Navel oranges and keep the zest safely. 
• Grind the mint leaves in a blender for a second. Do not make a paste out of it
• Take a large vessel and boil 1 liter of water in it. Add the sugar and let it boil till the sugar melts.
• Take the vessel off the flame and let it cool down completely. 
• Add the mint leaves, lemon juices, orange segments, orange zest, grated ginger and salt in the sugar syrup.

 

• Cover the vessel and keep it in refrigerator overnight for the flavors to seep in.
• Take out the mix and filter it the next day. Fill the concentrate into clean glass bottles and refrigerate.

To serve -

To serve the drink, add 2-3 tsp. of the above made Mint & Orange Lemonade in a glass and fill it with water and crushed ice cubes. 

Notes -

This concentrate stays good for several months when refrigerated.