Summer is almost here  and I have all these amazing memories of different summer vacations I have taken.

I remember waking up to beautiful mornings with the birds were chirping, and scent of various flowers filled the air. One of the birds was called Tambat, which translates to Coppersmith. It makes a sound of a hammer beating down a sheet of copper, I guess that’s where it got its name from. After waking up we would wash up, I still remember those big copper earns filled with water.

My Mami a typical woman from Konkan, unadulterated love, simple life and always a smile on her face that’s how I remember her. She would make beautifully scented rice porridge  which would be served on a giant leaf of a Moochkund tree, which is also called ‘dinner plate’ tree. It was simply dressed with a touch of ghee and salt.

Muchkund Leaves

There were bounties of summer like Karvande, Jambhul, but best part about that vacation used to be mangoes, mangoes for breakfast ,Mangoes for lunch, mangoes for snack Mangoes for a drink, what more can one ask for. I still remember very vividly the room full of mango is layered beautifully on a bed of hay. My aunt would tell us to go look for the ones that are ripe and then the party started.

We would wander around in the village, on the paths paved with Chire, a red stone from that region, leading up to the temple. There was a small pond near the temple called Ban Ganga, we would explore around and head home when the stomach started growling.

Mami would have a drink ready for us, made from the Kokum or ratamba as its called in that region. Gorgeous garnet, ruby color, delicious taste and thirst and heat quenching, this used to the the perfect treat after a walk in the village.

Kokum Sherbat

Fast forward to 2018 when I went to Sicily with my family. I fell in love with Italy and would love to live there some day. We enjoyed some amazing foods and a few of the favorites originated in Italy. Cannoli, Arancini to name a few. One of those dishes is Granita, a refreshing icy treat that comes in all kinds of flavors. It so reminded me of the Barf Gola we get in India.

Gelato

The best part was that the granita is enjoyed at breakfast with brioche, dessert for breakfast, what more can one ask for.

So today’s recipe is my summers relived, Kokum granita showcases two of my favorites, konkan and Sicily.

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Kokum Granita

A refreshing summer dessert with tangy and sweet flavors

Servings 4

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup Kokum Agal without sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups of water
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp Cumin powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

Method

  1. Bring 1 cup of water and sugar to a boil. Keep stirring till sugar dissolves.
  2. Keep aside. Stir in the rest of the water. Taste and add more sugar if needed
  3. Add cumin powder and salt and stir.
  4. Put this mixture into a baking tray, keep it in fridge for 2-3 hours. The mixture will start freezing around the edges slowly. Take the tray out and scrape the frozen part with fork, and put it back in the freezer.
  5. Keep repeating till all of the mixture is frozen into fine ice.

Serve it in a bowl.

Recipe Notes

You can make this a couple of days ahead, just make sure to scrape it with a fork right before you serve

You can also serve it with cream or ice-cream 

You can serve it at breakfast with brioche