Bimbli /Averrhoa bilimbi & Lemon Grass Juice

 I have tried a juice with lemon grass used bimbli/ bilimbi with jaggery. The juice is so yummy and I thought I should share it here.

Bimbli is a fruit which is used widely in South Canara. It is very sour taste and people use it for preparing pickle or use it cooking instead of tamarind or lemon.
Bimbli is commonly known as bilimbi or Averrhoa bilimbi.  

Let us see some benefits of having Bimbli in our diet.
Bimbli /Bilimbi is a sour fruit which has natural sour taste. It is full of Vitamin B, Vitamin C, Iron, phosphorus and antioxidants. They help in curing cough, itches, pimples and skin irritations.They help to fight cholesterol and inflammation. It is rich in anti diabetic and anti- bacterial properties.
Bimli is used in cooking varieties of dishes. It is one of the favourite fruit of many people.
I have used Dry Lemon Grass, Dry Bimbli which I got from Subramanya Kordale and his wife Ragini. They do have a Bimbli tree in their garden and they dried the fruit and brought it.

This Juice recipe started after seeing Sadashiva Rao Mailankody's post, Majjige hullina Panaka in Foodie blog. He is the admini for that blog and do try varieties of food and put it. The lemon grass juice had the green mirchi and lemon. It is a spicy one of course. After seeing the post actually I wanted to try the sweet version using jaggery. But some how after remembering this dried bimbli I thought of using bimbli instead of lemon. That the way Bimbli - Lemon Grass Juice arrived.
The bimbli's savoury taste and jaggery's sweet taste mixes well and gives out yummy taste. It can be relished so well and helps you to keep your mind and body cool.
Let us see the recipe now:

Things Needed :

Dry Lemon Grass : One handful : 4 to 5 sticks.
Dried Bimbli : 2 to 3 Tablespoons /8 to 10 pieces
Jaggery : 2 to 3 Tablespoons
Salt :   A little
Dried Ginger : 1/2 Tsp.
Kamakasturi / Sabja seeds : 1/2 Tsp. (Optional)

Method :

1. Wash and boil lemon grass in 1 cup of water for  6 to 8 minutes. Let it cool. Sieve it in a strainer. Keep it aside.

2. Wash and soak bimbli in hot water for 10 minutes and Grind it till paste.

3. Now put cooled lemon grass water in a big bowl. Add jaggery and ground bimbli mixture.

4. Add dry ginger and salt. Mix all the ingredients nicely. Add 2 to 3 glasses of water.

5.  Let jaggery dissolve nicely in that mixture. Stir nicely and sieve this panaka to a separate bowl.
    Add Kamakasturi seeds.

5. Bimbli - Lemon Grass Panaka is ready to serve. Pour Panaka to glasses. Adding Ice cubes is optional.

6. Serve Bimbli - Lemon Grass Panaka.

Note : 

Soaking bimbli in hot water helps the bimbli to get soft. Let it cool then you grind it. Use as you like. (Quantity). Use of jaggery /sugar/honey is optional.

Fresh bimbli fruits can be used and fresh lemon grass too. Adding ginger helps to avoid cold. You can use crushed pepper pods instead of ginger. Check the taste and add water according to your taste. Adjust sour and sweet. I added 1/2 tsp of Kamakasturi seeds which is grown in our garden.
Time : 15 to 20 Minutes.
Serves : 3 to 4 Glasses.