Jil Jil Jigarthanda – Madurai Special
- 19
- May
- 2010
Jigarthanda:(Regional Delicacy)
Madurai Special Jigarthanda: Jigar – means Heart, Thanda – means cold. This regional special drink is considered soothing to heart. Many ingredients present in it are natural body coolants. In a tropical climate like India, it becomes as a perfect summer drink.
And coming to the recipe, no body knows completely till today…as it remains as a trade secret! One could see Jigarthanda being sold all round the city (at Madurai) during peak summer. Though it is very popular among the push-cart sellers, now a days even hotels and restaruants provide this kind of refreshments. I got introduced to this drink through several Tamil movies, where the story revolves around the city and the characters simply rave about this drink! Ever since, I wanted to fix this at home for myself. I had been to Madurai only twice, during my school days(education tour)!! All I thought is..its much like Falooda, with some variation.
However, when I said to my Dad that I wanted to recreate it at home…he generously offered me many tips and pointers. Since, he has been to Madurai several times and enjoyed this drink, he tweaked my recipe a lot. Well, edible Sea algae(China Grass), Indian Sarsaparilla Syrup and Takhmaria Seeds(resembles like basil seeds) happens to be main ingredients. Besides, they also use pretty much a wide range of secret syrups and concoctions, which makes it highly delightful. Anyhow…I had hard time finding those ingredients here. Somehow managed to bring a decent drink today. Here you go…
For more Delighful Beverages using more or less same ingredients, take a look here:
Falooda
Nannari Sorbeth
Rose Milk
Ingredients:
Edible sea algae/Agar Agar(china grass) 1 fistful
Rose syrup – 1 table spoon
Sarsaparilla syrup(Nannari syrup)) – 1 table spoon
Basil seeds (Takmaria/Sabja)
Sugar syrup(I didn’t use any, as rose syrup had enough of sugar in it)
Milk 4 cups – reduced into half of its original content
Fresh cream 4-6 spoons
Vanilla ice cream 2 scoops.
Method:
Soak china grass, in warm sugar syrup. I used rose syrup to soak the algae, today. Once it consolidates into jelly, slice them down, set aside.
Soak the takhamaria seeds in water or milk. Once it bulges beautifully, set aside.
Now mix all the above mentioned ingredients together and leave this set-up in the refrigerator.
Chill and serve as a refreshment.
Thanks, thanks, thanks a lot for this recipe Malar. I am big fan of it especially the one from Murugan idly kadai. Looks delicious
Makes me nostalgic, had this jigarthanda long back, thanks for sharing..am gonna try soon..
wow i don’t know about this drink thanks for sharing..malar where did u buy this basil seeds..pls update falooda my favorite drink yarr..u have a gooooooooooood collection of our favorite recipes:))
hey i love this….we use enjoy this drink in summer….my mom-dad bought sabja for me from india when they visited me here in usa…so njoying it here in LA hot weather and remembering mom-dad ..thanks my making my memories refreshed…looks awesome….can drink both the glasees….bful color…looks soothing to the eyes as well
Malar,
I like the name the color of the dish, looks really yummy.
wow…refreshing one….u remind me of my place
Hey Malar…I love those sabjabij…NIce recipe
Ohboy!!!Fabulous drink. Love the Jigarthanda.
looks so colourful…….excellent for this hot summer
You kidding me. I’ve been looking for this recipe for a very long time. I love this drink. recently I’ve tasted this in chennai, balaji bhavan restaurant. I’ve become a fan of it from then. Thanks a lot for sharing, am gonna try it son.
This is a new name n a new recipes for me , falooda is a different thing here in the north ( arrowroot vermicelli)and is served with kulfi …i posted a recipe of homemade falooda with mango kulfi recently on my banaras blog if you want to check out.
the drink looks very refreshing , no wonder it is so phenomenal there…i am wondering why it didn’t travel to the north…:)
And takhmaria seeds are not from holy basil , it is a different basil known as marua in hindi..
Wow..what a drink Malar! Very hard to find the ingredients here and you made it successful…kudos. It looks very beautiful and I am searching a word to describe it:)
aaaahh!! a recipe from my hometown! love this!
Looks delicious.. Have never had this..
The title reminded a vadivelu joke I guess! I never had this one but heard.. looks super cool!
this is quite new to me…looks so refreshing…nice pics too…
I too have heard of this only from movies…I am able to see how this drink will look from your blog now
..looks totally colorful and delicious…nice combination of everything good 
OK, I have no idea what it is as never had it, but sure looks simply beautiful and thirst-quenching
Photos looks so nice…and its tempting…Yummy….
we can get jigarthanda mix in trichy madurai side,if we soak it for 5-8 hrs,become white jelly like,put this into glass,add rose milk then little ice cream,this way also tastes superb.
An interesting recipe. Have only heard but never had the chance to taste. Ur version looks very refreshing and tempting.
Wow malar I was abt to post our famous madurai dessert one day.. oooooooh this looks tooo tempting.. I really miss many dishes.
though my home town is madurai and tasted it several times, but never know about the ingredients.Now here in singapore,we get this in murugan idlikadai.
Great attempt to make this at home. and nice to know it came out well
malar dis is really jil jil drink…looks colourful and perfect!
Thats a wonderful drink, Malar..
Love making n having jigarthanda, yummmmmy
basil seeds drinks are always jigarthanda for sure.. I remember my childhood..when it used to be a regular in our diets….. Tanda tanda cool cool!!!!!
Ash…
(http://asha-oceanichope.blogspot.com/)
I love to taste this,but never tasted,I should once try it in murugan idli shop,I hav seen there
Dear Malar
Awesome and simply took me back to my childhood days in Orissa.But the recipe was bit different but main ingredients are same.
As Sangeeta said above, these are not basil seeds ..As far as I know , the seeds are from ” Ishopgul” plant ..the husk is sold with medicinal value as a gastric conditioner and the seeds are sold for this kind of drinks, May be it is a type of Basil as the plant looks the same ( almost). The seeds when added to water swells up and makes a jelly like translucent ball of 2-4 mm around it…nevertheless the drink is simply awesome
Have a nice day
thats a nice recipe dear……i would love to try it out..all the things i have at home..so i will try and say u how it came out…
Love to hear the name jigirthanda. First time tried last year in chennai and liked it.
Like you,I also got impressed about this drink from that Kadhal movie. Nice promoting of jigirthanda.
Thanks for sharing your version.
Wow perfect summer drink Malar you took me to my chidhood days with this post superb…..
I have not heard abt this drink before but looks good..
Dear Sangeeta and Ushnish,
thank you so much for giving me a correct info’. I had no clue what is Takhmaria called in my language…one of my blog friend confirmd its holy basil seeds. Now that I know they resemble each other but not the same. I corrected my recipe.:)
Jigarthanda is so refreshing malar,i have had it in madurai.Looks exactly the same.No wonder it will be really delicious .
I love this drink one of my favorites.Its available in indian restaurants here.
Wow! Looks so refreshing…wud love to taste that in this heat.
This is very new to me. Delicious …
That does look like fairly exotic ingredients.. china grass! Nannari syrup!! Thanks for putting in the effort! Looks so pretty on the blog!
Cheers!
Malar,,jigirthanda nalla seithurukeenga naan Madurai la padikkum poedhu naanum en friend Sasikala vum intha drink ah miss pannavae maatoem anga adikkira veyilukku apdiye amruthama irukkum..
Mmm! The special reminds me of the famous Madurai comedian! In a famous movie, I really thought this jigarthanda would make the consumer tipsy. Anyway, back to reality (!), this is really cool and soothing for the blazing summer!
Yummy Recipe dear.. I dont know much of ingredients u have mentioned…But looks so mouth watering
Interesting bit of information, did not know about this.