Very famous in the southern parts of Tamilnadu, especially Madurai which I was told is considered to be its origin too. Though the name sounds like a tamil word (mainly because of the way it is being pronounced with a typical tamil accent), it clearly is a hindi word. Jigar - Liver and Thanda - cool. It is said that this drink helps to bring down your body heat.
It is a simple drink which consist of :
- milk ( boiled down to half its volume )- China grass ( called kadal paasi ) soaked in water which turns in to a jelly like form
- any flavored syrup ( mostly Rose syrup or Sarsaparila syrup ) and
- topped with a large scoop of ice cream.
The thick consistency of milk and the texture from China grass makes it rich and chewy and since its served cool with ice cream on top, its a great drink to beat Chennai's heat.
Since its a very common drink in Madurai, you find it in many places. There are even age old shop which have been serving this drink as a delicacy for decades. But I have seen this only in Murugan Idly shops in Chennai. I don't know if its available elsewhere. I loved it and would surely recommend it. For people are too calorie conscious: Its worth the extra minutes of jog ;)
