Ice Cream Falooda

I am a member of South Vs North Challenge, started by Divya of You Too Can Cook. Every month, a member from North team will challenge the South team with an authentic north Indian recipe, while a member of Southern team will challenge the North team with an authentic South Indian recipe. I try to participate every month, but once I skipped the challenge. It was on September and the challenge was hosted by Minnie. Falooda, being a rich north Indian dessert is a layered chilled dessert, the main ingredient being falooda noodle. The falooda noodles are readily available in market and it is easy breezy to make this dessert. But for me, it was tough as my fridge was giving so many problems and falooda noodles is not available at my place. I went through so many posts on making the noodles at home, but due to the lack of my fridge, I didn't attempt it. And one fine day, i.e my birthday, my hubby dear gifted me a fridge and the first thought which came to my mind was to try falooda. I didn't want to buy icecream and so made it at home. 

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Jigarthanda/ Jil Jil Jigarthanda - Madurai Famous Cool Drink

I am living in Madurai and even after 3 years of blogging, I haven't blogged about the famous Madurai drink Jigarthanda. You can see a Jigarthanda stall at every nook and corner of Madurai. They also sell it in push carts. Though I have been in Madurai for nearly 7 years, I got to taste this drink only few months back. And then whenever I see a jigarthanda stall, I never miss it. As it is available everywhere, I never thought of making this at home. My favourite Jigarthanda is available at Murugan Idli Shop near Meenakshi Amman Temple and opposite Pothy's. When I posted Falooda recipe, one of my friends suggested that I post Jigarthanda also. These two drinks are quite similar but completely different in taste. While falooda has noodles in it, jigarthanda has badam gum/ pisin instead. Both have flavoured milk and served with icecream on top. But jigarthanda is plain without any garnishes. As you all know Madurai is extremely hot and people are always on look out for quenching their thirst and cooling thier body. This drink serves both. Badam pisin and nannari sharbat, both ingredients of jigarthanda, have nice cooling properties. The home made icecream served along with this makes it an exotic drink. 

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