Gulkand/Rose Jam Iced Tea

How was the weekend gals? For us I feel it flew away in a jiffy-we did so many tasks. We planted seeds in the pots and cleaned the balcony, then went for cycling till tower of London and came back home all tired, tanned and hungry. I mentioned in my last of Green Chutney that I planned to keep the menu simple and quick-so yes pani puri it was. I made puris/golgappe at home from scratch. There is nothing better than fluffed puri and tangy cold pani in summers-ah divine. Saturday afternoon we slept and slept and it was so much needed. We have been busy all the weekends from past 2 months thus the afternoon sleep was just blissful.

In the evening we were trying to solve the new jigsaw puzzle we have brought and it was then when Mr. Husband demanded to have some ice tea. I asked which ice tea-lemon? He said-no no something different and not very tangy. Hmmm! OK I replied. I have used flavored tea bags in the past and made this iced tea. But I wanted to try to something new ,only fruit I had in the fridge were oranges and he already said nothing zingy, so rose spread/gulaknd finally grabbed my attention.

Tea and Rose Jam

A month back when I was looking for gulaknd in Indian grocery store, I had tough time, no one knew what gulkand is. I explained in the best way possible to the shopkeeper and finally he said-oh you want rose spread. Rose spread?? Well that’s a fancy name-isn't it?? Those of you don’t know- gulkand is like jam made with rose leaves and sugar. It is used in ayurvedic medicines and is very popular in India, Pakistan and Turkey. It is one sweet medicine that has many benefits but most importantly it has cooling properties and thus it is beneficial in alleviating all heat related problems like tiredness, lethargy, itching, aches and pains. Anyways I like dollops to gulaknd in milk or sometime in mouth directly ;-)

So Gulkand Ice Tea was sweet, refreshing and cooling.  I couldn't take very good pictures Now moving to the recipe.

Ingredients:

5 cups water

10 ice cubes

1 teaspoon honey

2 tea bags

5 tablespoon Gulkand/rose jam/rose spread

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon rose water

1/4 teaspoon chaat massala- Recipe HERE

Method:

Boil the water. Take from the heat and let tea bags simmer in it for 20 seconds. Strain the water in a jug.

Take the hand blender and blend it with 5 ice cubes, gulaknd, chaat massala, honey and lemon juice.

Let the mixture cool. Finally serve with ice cubes.

Notes:

You can also roohafza/rose syrup instead on honey.

Don’t let tea bags simmer in hot water for long, as it will make it bitter.