Bel'er Shorbot
A refreshing summer drink made with Indian bael or wood apple
- Cooking time20 minutes
Calories323kcal
Bael a.k.a. the “Bengal quince” is an underrated fruit. Calling a fruit so exquisite “wood apple” was a criminal branding mistake! It is also a pity that bael ripens in summer, when all anyone wants to know is if the mangoes are properly good yet. So, in April, when the bazars are full of ripe bael, and mangoes are nowhere near ripe, we sip on our bael sharbat, paying scant attention to the deliciousness of the fruit at hand, and pine for the mangoes. 🤷🏾
️One hardly needs a recipe for a bael sharbat/bael panna, but may be this video will entice you to eat more bael at home? Just make some bael pulp and keep it in an airtight container in the fridge. It will keep for 10 days. Bael sharbat makes for a great breakfast smoothie. Or when you come home from the heat, make yourself a glass of cool bael sharbat. It is quick, nutritious, and refreshing.
Books in this recipe
Ingredients
- 200 g bael (wood apple) pulp
- 300 ml milk
- 50 g sugar
- 2 g salt
- ice cubes (optional)
- cold water (if making without milk)
Method
- Crack open the bael and scoop out all the flesh. Pick out the seeds.
- Using a little water, mash the flesh to extract the pulp. Pass it through a mesh strainer to remove the fibrous parts.
- In a mixing jug, take about 200 g of this bael pulp. To it, add milk, sugar and salt. Mix to combine and dissolve the sugar. Serve chilled or over ice.
- If you don't prefer the milk version, simply add some bael pulp to the bottom of your glass, and top it with ice and/or cold water. Mix and enjoy chilled.
