Savitha's Kitchen: Sukku Kaapi / சுக்கு காபி / Dry ginger Coffee

Sukku Kaapi Coffee / சுக்கு காபி or dry ginger coffee is a very good medicional drink for those freezing winter days.The spices used here enables digestion and helps us to get rid off the cold.Using basil leaves or karum thulasi gives a very good taste and aroma.Its been raining rarely here in tirunelveli..During that time, I asked our cook to prepare this coffee.He is an expert in preparing this.With a smile on his face,he rushed to the garden,plucked some basil leaves with flower.Took all the spices and crushed it with his mortor and pestle and quickly prepared this coffee.I showed my gratitude ,by taking the pictures and posting here. Enjoy this hot sukku kaapi on your winter days.

Ingredients	Measurement
.1.Sukku / Dry ginger 2.Panai vellam / Palm Jaggery 3.Pepper corns 4.Cumin seeds 5.Whole Coriander seeds 6.Methi seeds 7.Cardamom seeds 8.Basil leaves	2 inch piece 1/2 cup crushed 1 tbsp 1 tsp 1 tbsp 1/4 tsp 2 optional a hand full

Yield : 5 servings

Preparation time : 15 - 20 minutes

Method:

* Wash the basil leaves and remove the leaves from the stem,also the flower.Powder the palm jaggery aka karupatti .

* Crush the whole pepper corns,cumin seeds,methi seeds,coriander seeds ,dry ginger in a mortor and pestle.Don't grind it in a mixie.We need the spices to be just crushed.

* Take a pan,add these crushed spices ,basil leaves and palm jaggery. Add 7 cups of water .Bring it to boil for about 10 minutes.

* Don't boil too much.By this time,water would have reduced to 5 cups.Strain the coffee and serve hot.It helps in digestion and also acts as a medicine for cold.

Note:

We didn't have cardamom ,so we have avoided.But it gives nice aroma to the coffee.If we don't have palm jaggery, we can also use regular jaggery.

Basil or karum thulasi has medicional value.So don't skip that.We can also use dry basil leaves,if we cannot find fresh leaves.