Indian Spiced Lemonade

Indian spiced lemonade is anything but boring – it’s like a party in your mouth where lemon & lime invited all the wild spices and forgot to tell water to behave. One sip and your taste buds do the “bhangra”. It’s tangy, salty, spicy, sweet, and just a little bit dramatic – kind of like your favourite Bollywood auntie. Who needs plain old lemonade when you can have a glass of delicious chaos? This Indian spiced lemonade is sweet, tangy and thirst-quenching! If you think lemonade is exciting during summer, then this Indian spiced lemonade tops all its lemon drink competitors. 

As soon as you take a sip, you’ll never want to go back to lemonade without spices. This refreshing summer drink is perfect for beating the heat – it contains sugar and salt to help your body rehydrate, along with spices that add a burst of flavour.

Ingredients

to make about 4 glasses of Spiced Indian lemonade

2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
4 cups cold water

5 tablespoons sugar

¾ teaspoon kala namak (black salt)

1 teaspoon roasted spice powder for the Indian lemonade (recipe below)

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon amchur or dry mango powder (available at most Asian groceries in Cyprus)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

15 mint leaves 

ice cubes

Making the roasted dry spice for the Indian Lemonade.

Roast the 1 tablespoon cumin seeds, 1 tablespoon coriander seeds and 1/3 tablespoon pepper corns in a dry pan over a low fire. Ensure that it is stirred constantly so that it does not burn. Once cooled grind to a fine powder (this will make a larger quantity to keep in a sealed bottle for use later). Do not over-roast the spices; otherwise, they will turn bitter.

In a jug, add the spice mix, and all the dry ingredients, add the lemon juice, water and stir well till dissolved. Add ice cubes in a glass and put to serve. Taste and adjust sugar if needed.
Garnish with mint leaves.

You can keep this in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Lime Juice is the star ingredient of this drink. It adds the perfect amount of tanginess, making it refreshing and delicious. Only freshly squeezed juice works in this recipe. Do not use bottled juice. You can also use lemon juice instead of lime for a milder taste.

Granulated white sugar is added to sweeten the drink. You can also use powdered jaggery, brown sugar, coconut sugar, or honey instead of sugar if you want a variation. 

Fresh mint leaves add a very refreshing flavour to this Indian lemonade. Bruise the mint leaves slightly for added flavour

If you like fizzy drinks, top the lemonade with chilled club soda or sparkling water just before serving. Sprite, or ginger ale also adds a variation. You can add chia seeds pre-soaked in water to this drink.

Black salt (kala namak, rock salt) gives this drink a very earthy taste, which is very different from regular salt. It is salty and sour at the same time. Try not to replace it with common salt.

You can also add ½ teaspoon of dry ginger powder to add a bit more spice.

Double or triple this spice mix recipe and store it to make this lemonade at any time.