Cumin Powder Shikanji – The Refreshing, Digestive Summer Drink

In summer you often don’t feel like eating, at least not as much as in winters. That’s due to the scorching heat. Dehydration makes your digestive system slower in summers. In such a situation, a digestive and refreshing cumin powder drink would not only cool you down but also help with digestion, increasing your appetite.

That cumin powder has numerous health benefits is an added bonus of course, but we shall come to that later. 
So here is a recipe for cumin or jeera shikanji.

Ingredients for jeera shikanji

• 6 glasses of water
• Juice of 3 lemons
• 1 tsp roasted cumin powder
• ¼ tsp of regular salt
• ¼ tsp rock salt
• Ice cubes or crushed ice
• Half a cup of anar (pomegranate) juice with the pulp totally filtered out.

Method for making jeera shikanji 

• Mix roasted cumin powder in water well.
• Squeeze in the lemons. Add salt and rock salt.
• Tang up the shikanji with anar juice. mix well.
• Add ice and serve your jeera shikanji with an anar twist - chilled. 

Cumin seeds and powder are used in most Indian households in various dishes and some exquisite drinks. The spice has multiple health benefits and helps lower the risk of many diseases. 

Jeera powder contains Cuminaldehyde, a bioactive compound. It is an excellent digestive stimulant and also helps in maintaining blood sugar levels. The spice accelerates the production of digestive juices thus helping the digestive system.

Cumin seeds have 66mg per hundred grams of iron. Doctors often recommend the intake of iron to increase haemoglobin and fight anaemia. Those with iron deficiency can consume cumin seeds or the dishes in which cumin seeds or powder are used.
With so many health benefits, it’s no surprise that cumin powder has had a permanent space on the kitchen shelves of all Indian households. So make sure to spice up your food with the beneficial spice.

AUTHOR : Danish Raza