Rourkela: Juice prepared from roasted mangoes at Birsa Munda Square here have found a special favour among the denizens for its distinctive taste at a time when rising temperature has made life intolerable for them.
While denizens derive pleasure from having the juice, it is also beneficial for health as it helps in digestion and in relieving stomach problems, people relishing the juice said.
Come summer, people in steel city throng a roadside vendor of Bihar, Kedar Pandit, at Birsa Munda Square to relish the drink. Raja Gupta of Lahunipada said he never miss a chance to have the drink whenever he visits the city. He loves the sour taste of the drink prepared with a mixture of various condiments.
The juice is good for health and helps in relieving stomach problems, another youth Mohammed Sonu of Civil Township said. Manas Kumar Barik of Sector-21 said he prefers to have the juice after lunch as it helps him in digestion.
Pandit said he came to the city in search of work when was just 14 years old. He decided to sell roasted mango juice which is very famous in Bihar and constructed a push cart trolley for the purpose. Since then, he has been selling the juice to people and earning his livelihood.
Pandit buys mangoes from the market and roasts them on an iron net spread upon a chullah. The vendor peels the skin of the fruit after cooling them in water and grinds them in a mixture. Various condiments like black salt, ajwain, jeera powder, black pepper and dhania powder are added to the juice to give it the distinctive taste and flavour, Pandit said. PNN
