Jaljeera

Jaljeera is the cumin water of northern India, its name meaning simply water and cumin. It belongs to the summer table of the Punjab, Delhi and the Gangetic plain, where it is made in the home and sold from carts and at the counters of the chaat sellers. It is carried by household cooks and street vendors alike, and it is served at weddings and festive meals as a first drink before the food. The tradition counts it a cooling drink for the hot months and serves it on that occasion.

A thin, sharply sour green-brown drink built on roasted ground cumin, Cuminum cyminum, with tamarind Tamarindus indica, fresh mint, green coriander, black salt, dried mango powder and a little chilli, all loosened in cold water. The cumin is dry-roasted until it darkens and is ground fresh, and the tamarind is soaked and pressed to a pulp that is strained. Mint and coriander are ground to a paste with the spices, then stirred into the water and strained or left with a fine sediment. It is often finished with tiny fried chickpea flour pearls called boondi, which float on the surface and soften as the glass is drunk.

Jaljeera is drunk before a meal or beside fried and spiced snacks such as samosa, kachori, pakora and the chaat of the street, and it is served alongside a heavy north Indian feast. The structural reason is contrast: its sourness and salt cut through the fat of frying, and its cold, thin body clears the mouth between rich mouthfuls. The cumin and black salt sharpen the appetite, which is why it opens a meal rather than closing it, and the tradition counts it a cooling drink for the summer months.