While it is important to take care of our liquid intake in summer, during Ramazan, this care becomes all the more important as the fasts are long and the weather hot.

So, a drink at Iftar time is one of the most important items on the dining table, and adding some variety to it, plus some nutritious value, is what we all want. So here is a very simple and delicious drink that is sure to refresh you at the end of the fast and also please you with its delightful taste.

Lemon cucumber cooler is packed with the freshness of lemon, the vitamins of cucumber, the spark of a white carbonated drink and the refreshing flavour of mint. A touch to black salt brings back the vital salts lost doing the hot day and you are refreshed in no time.

It is very simple to make, and if you are making it for the whole family, then mix everything in a jug and just add the soft drink just before Iftar so as not to lose the punch of mocktail, which it actually is. The recipe here is for approximately two large glasses, but most of the ingredients can be adjusted to personal taste.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons lemon juice

• 4 tablespoon sugar syrup or to taste

• 4 tablespoons cucumber, cut in small pieces

• 1/4 teaspoon black salt, or to taste

• Water

• Any white carbonated drink

• Mint and lemon slices for garnishing

Method

In a glass, or mason jar like the one I used, add lemon juice and sugar syrup. Sugar syrup is simply sugar dissolved, cooked and thickened a bit in hot water, but if you don’t want to go through the hassle of making this, just add regular sugar, or powdered one.

Now add cucumber pieces, lemon slices, mint leaves and fill almost half of the glass with water. You can skip water if you want it with soft drink only. Add black salt and still well. At the end add the soft drink and serve at once.

Published in Dawn, Young World, April 24th, 2021