Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Sambharam/Spiced Buttermilk




Summer is here! How many of us enjoy this season? Most of us keep fretting about the soaring temperatures, power cuts and water shortages. But were we like this during our childhood? In those days, summer meant vacationing at our grandparent’s place, playing for long hours, catching up with our cousins, gorging on mangoes and watermelons, gulping down glasses of sugarcane juice and buttermilk and sleeping on the terrace. In other words, summer evokes loads of fond memories, doesn’t it?

Every summer vacation, my mother, brother and I would board a train, from whichever part of India we were in, to Chennai. My grandfather would be waiting eagerly for us at the railway station. My grandmother would have stocked the store room with all kinds of goodies. But we would be given all these only in the afternoon along with our milk. After lunch the entire household would have a short nap. My brother and I together would raid the store during this time. Thatha would always store water in the refrigerator. Those days, he used to store them in glass bottles and invariably every vacation, either me or my brother, would definitely break one of the bottles. Another ritual, which I clearly remember, is that my thatha used to get a packet of 4 biscuits everyday for tea, at office. He would save these for us. We would wait with impatience for him to come and handover the packet to us. It would have one cream biscuit and the others would be ordinary ones. Bro and I would quarrel over the cream biscuitJ. After all we did not get to eat cream biscuits everyday in those days. How wish I could relive those days!



It feels really nice to get pampered. It’s the turn of my children now. We are vacationing at my Uncle’s house, and my children are getting pampered to the core by their great grandmother, grandparents, aunts and uncles. I’m sure they will also have lots to talk about their childhood summers when they grow up.
Now coming to today’s post, Sambhaaram or Spiced buttermilk is a natural and healthy thirst quencher. Perfect drink for the hot summer months. If you have lots of buttermilk, this would be the best way to use it up. This can be prepared with lots of variations. I have shared my grandmother’s way of making it. So go ahead and enjoy this summer with this refreshing drink.

What you’ll need
  1. 1.       Buttermilk (slightly sour) – 2 cups
  2. 2.       Water – 2 Cups
  3. 3.       Ginger – 1 inch piece
  4. 4.       Curry Leaves – 20 to 25 leaves
  5. 5.       Green Chilly – 1/2 (optional)
  6. 6.       Salt to taste

Method
  1. Combine the buttermilk and water. Stir well.
  2. In a blender grind together ginger, curry leaves and green chilly with salt and about ¼ cup of water.
  3. Strain this and add it to the buttermilk. Mix well and serve chilled.



Note:
Green chilly is totally optional; I generally avoid it as my kids don’t like it spicy.
You could also temper the buttermilk with mustard, cumin, dried red chilly and asafetida. This gives a different taste and flavor.

Linking this to the Kerala Kitchen hosted by Prathibha, Summer Splash hosted by Sangeetha, Summer Spirits hosted by Anusha, and Just 4 Fun by Sobha

40 comments:

Faseela said...

A perfect refreshing drink for the summer.....great

Hema said...

Very refreshing and healthy one too, childhood memories are the best, wish to go back in time..

Jeyashris Kitchen said...

A healthy drink and quite refreshing. nice memories too.

www.mahaslovelyhome.com said...

very tasty n yummy drink....
Maha

Archana said...

refreshing buttermilk. Love it

Suja Manoj said...

Refreshing and yummy,love it.

Vineetha Sush said...

U bought summer vacation memories to me ..Nice post.

Unknown said...

My everyday drink. I too cliked them and saved in my draft after coming here. Very cool and refreshing drink kaveri.

Ms.Chitchat said...

Perfect thirst quencher. You bought back my childhood alive, beautifully recalled.

sesh said...

Great post. You have made the Sambhaaram, the poor man's drink sound like nectar. Indeed it is, when you face the heat of Chennai or for that matter TN. I still remember at Madurai, we used to drink Gallons of it from stalls set up on the street by philanthropic people on the occasion of Meenakshi Thirukalyanam or simply the celestial marriage of Goddess Meenakshi. Fun to the last T. I don't ever think we can ever relive those moments. foot loose and fancy free. Have planned a visit to Madurai with my daughter for this years rituals. Hope Goddess Meenakshi accepts us. But I am not too sure, if they still serve 'Neer More', the Tamil equivalent of Sambaaram.Shall let you know. Anyway, Congrats are due to you for adding a lot of richness to Indian cooking, particularly Palakkad style. Great going indeed! May you be blessed by our grandmothers for keeping the recipes always alongwith the memories!

Vimitha Durai said...

Refreshing drink to beat the heat

Lifewithspices said...

perfect summer drink nice clicks

khushi said...

lovely drink to beat the summer

hotpotcooking said...

refreshing for this hot summer.

Reshmi Mahesh said...

Refreshing drink...

PrathibhaSreejith said...

Kaveri, nothing can replace this awesome Sambharam. You took me back to the childhood with loads of fun, great memories that stay for ever..

Kanan said...

buttermilk is my fav. I make it everyday to go with dinner. even in winter too. But I more like the one with tadka. The pic with leaves is looking beautiful

Achu's Amma's Kitchen said...

summer time refreshing drink....

Sobha Shyam said...

one of my fav and lovely drinks...so refreshing during summer season..so true that there are so many memories of summer vacations..i too remember them :)..Thanx a lot for sending this to my event dear :)

Join the Just "4" Fun event :)

The Yogi Vegetarian said...

Thanks for following me, and I also had a look at your blog; you have so many interesting recipes there that I would like to try, I am now following you! :)

Julie said...

Lovely sambharam,my hubby's favorite..looks like summer has touched there:-)
Cook in any recipe with Cilantro/Cumin as one of the main ingredients & rush it in my EP Series-Herbs n Spices
Erivum Puliyum

Sangeetha M said...

real refreshing summer drink...we use to add cucumber also to this n its in my comingup list :)
Thanks for sending to Summer Splash!
Spicy Treats
OnGoing Event:kitchen Chronicles - Summer Splash
Ongoing Event : HITS~Fiber Rich Foods

Swathi said...

Sambharam looks perfect love this one, my grandma makes it more often.

Rathai's recipe said...

Hi Kaveri!

Thank you so much for dropping by my space and leaving such heart-warming comments. :) I will attach the widget and let you know. :) Sambharam is new to me and I absolutely adore how you have presented it. It looks delicious!

Sravs said...

Refreshing and healthy buttermilk !!

Ongoing event CC:Vegan Diet - Plant Based Food

Shylaja said...

Nice clicks Kaveri. I loved your writeup on memories of summer vacations :-)

Hari Chandana P said...

Refreshing and delicious drink.. looks perfect !!
Indian Cuisine

chef and her kitchen said...

very refreshing n delicious drink....yummm

Sona said...

The best and the most refreshing drink for summers.. I love sambharam, and have it around all the seasons!! :)

hemalata said...

Very yummy n refreshing drink for summer.

anjana said...

very refreshing and delicious summer drink ...my favourite..
Anjana

anthony stemke said...

This is a great thirst quencher indeed, worth getting buttermilk just for it.
Thanks.

Unknown said...

Flavorful yummy drink.

http://cuisinedelights.blogspot.in/2012/03/award-time.html

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Reshmi said...

all time favourite.. and thank you for the comments at my space.. :)
Noel collections

Ganga Sreekanth said...

looks really wonderful.

Vidhya said...

Reading this post bought back so many fond memories,like you my summers used to be the same.Sambharam is one drink I can have any day or say everyday,I too make this your way,lovely presentation.

Anusha said...

grandma s recipe out and out!! and i dint know it s called sambharam thanks kaveri for sharing that bit of info :)

The Yogi Vegetarian said...

Dear Kaveri, I have been enjoying reading your recipes, and there is an award on my blog for you; please drop in and collect it anytime from 10:00am (BST) Friday :)

Sangeetha M said...

Thanks for participating in my Summer Splash event...Roundup have been posted,checkout my space for more...
Spicy Treats

Lekshmi said...

I love this. Try adding a pinch of Jeera powder, it will be tastier.

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