INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

NOTES: 2    ounces is about 57 grams.  You can leave out melon seeds
and double the quantity of almonds.  Potassium metabisulphite is a
chemical preservative. This recipe  doesn't mention refrigeration as a
means of storing this syrup; a  western adaptation would be to leave
out the chemical and store the  syrup in the refrigerator.  While
neither this recipe nor the cookbook mentions diluting this, I  assume
this is a syrup concentrate meant to be diluted before  serving. The
cookbook says the recipe yields "1 bottle."  "Almonds mixed with
kernels of melon seeds is an age-old Indian  drink. In addition to
being a refreshing drink it is considered  highly useful in improving
intellectual capacity. The conventional  method consists in grinding
the ingredients and preparing the  sharbat, which has to be made fresh
every day just before it is to be  served. The method described below
however eliminates this tiresome  procedure and enables one to prepare
and store the sharbat."  Soak the almonds and seeds overnight in cold
water sufficient to cover  them. Peel the skins and grind (use a stone
slab or a mortar and  pestle that does not smell of spices) into a
smooth paste whilst  adding 4 ounces of water every now and then.
Strain the paste through  muslin. Reserve juice.  Grind the leftover
paste with 3 ounces water, strain and repeat this  process a second
time. Add this juice to reserved juice.  Then grind the leftover pulp
using 3/4 pint water. Strain; mix in  sugar, stir and cook on slow fire
til the syrup thickens to one-thread  consistency.  Add 1/2 pint of the
reserved juice and the extract of the cardamoms  prepared by grinding
them along with their skins and a little water.  Simmer and remove the
scum over the boiling syrup. Boil for a minute  or two; remove from the
fire. Strain through muslin and cool.  Add ruh kewra or essence, the
almond essence and potassium  metabisulphite dissolved in a small
quantity of syrup. Pour into  sterilised bottles and cork with cleaned
and boiled tops and seal  with paraffin wax.  Source: Mrs. Balbir
Singh's Indian Cookery Posted to MM-Recipes  Digest V3 #245  Date: Sun,
8 Sep 1996 12:18:05 +0000  From: Linda Place <placel@worldnet.att.net>

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Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients)
----------------------------------------------
Calories: 337
Calories From Fat: 247
Total Fat: 29.5g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 19.5mg
Potassium: 409.6mg
Carbohydrates: 12g
Fiber: 6.2g
Sugar: 2.8g
Protein: 11.9g