Hey guys!
Here is a South Indian specialty drink that’s great to have if you have cough, cold, fever or even indigestion. It’s called ‘Chukku Kaapi’ or Dried Ginger Coffee. There are plenty of ways to make it. The following is how I do it:
Ingredients (to make 1 cup)
● Jaggery – 1 piece
● Freshly ground black pepper powder – 1/3 tsp
● Ginger (Usually dried ginger(chukku) is used for this drink but I use fresh ginger since its readily available) – Approx 1/2 inch piece
● Small red onion – 4 or 5
● Garlic – 2 cloves
● Whole Cumin – 1/2 tsp
● Loose black tea or Coffee powder (This requires coffee powder but as I said before, it’s very customizable and I usually use loose tea) – 1 tsp (or less depending on the strength you want it to be)
●Water – 2 cups
Method
1) Place the piece of jaggery in the water and start boiling it. The whole piece needs to melt into the water.
2) Meanwhile, grind ginger, garlic & small onions in a grinder.
3) Add that along with black pepper powder, loose tea & cumin seeds to the boiling water.
4) Let it boil really well. Once you are sure everything is incorporated well into the water, switch off flame.
5) Strain & serve hot!
Since you started with 2 cups, after all the boiling, you will be left with 1 cup into which the flavors & goodness of all ingredients is concentrated into. Enjoy the hot, healing drink!
You can get chukku kaapi mix in hard, pellet form by Indian brands in supermarkets like Lulu Center. I don’t remember how much it is. Probably about AED 8 per pack. These pellets just need to be boiled in water and it becomes chukku kaapi :).. However, I like making it from scratch because the taste is much more intense with fresh ingredients.
Love,
Naz ♥
