Though all cold drinks are popular in the summers, chilled milk with various flavours has remained a favourite in northwestern Punjab from a long time. Doodh soda is popular in the Punjab region, where it’s sold at cafes and drink stands and is often a morning drink.
In the Punjab region of Pakistan and northern India, people consider Doodh soda healthier than just plain soda. It’s also a refreshing counterpoint to spicy food—like a light lassi.
List of Doodh Soda
- History of Doodh Soda
- How to make Doodh Soda
- How to Prepare
- Benefits of Doodh Soda
- Disadvantages of Doodh Soda
Doodh soda is a mixture of milk, sugar, and soda of various flavours. However, 7Up is usually mixed with milk and lots of ice to make doodh soda in most of the houses.
Mixing milk and soda water with crushed ice is an art. Most people take the drink with a breakfast of hot kulchas from their nearby tandoors, especially in the Punjab region of Pakistan.
The drink is especially prevalent during Ramadan, the holy month when Muslims fast from sunup to sundown. A popular coolant recipe from the region of Punjab in Pakistan, especially popular in Summers and Ramadan iftaar parties.Â
After a day without eating or drinking, the creaminess of the milk, plus the sugar and fizz of the soda, make for a particularly soothing beverage. Of course, the same could be said any day of the year.
Not only that, it will be liked by even those staunch haters of milk and also our fussy kids. They will surely love it this way. A much liked to drink to have at Iftaar during Ramadan. It’s a combination of milk and soda water in a 1:1 ratio. Some people also like to have Roohafza with the Doodh Soda.
History of Doodh Soda
It is very interesting to know the fact that a summer drink famous in Pakistan and North India have origin from Victorian England. It was a famous drink in America and England in 1880s and 1990s.
It was usually preferred by the cyclists who mixed milk with soda water, instead of drinking it alone.
There’s a lot of logic to this: Milk is full of vitamins, minerals and electrolytes that help the body recover after activity, but on its own, it can be rather heavy and cloying to a parched throat. Mixing it with seltzer thins it down enough to create a very refreshing drink.
Sodas with milk or cream were extremely popular in the 1890s, and into the twentieth century. When soda counters more or less vanished from the American and British landscape, sodas with actual fresh milk in them became an endangered species. But it is still famous in North India and Pakistan which makes these wonderful drink alive even today.
How to make Doodh Soda:
Ingredients:
1. 1-liter cold milk
2. 1-liter green soft drink (7up, sprite etc.)
3. 1 cup fresh cream
4. 2 tbsp sugar
5. ice as required
How to Prepare:
- Step 1: Put all ingredients except soft drink in a blender. Process until sugar is dissolved.
- Step 2: Transfer into a serving jug. Stir in the soft drink. Doodh Soda is ready to serve. Enjoy!!
- Step 3: Serve chilled.
Note – Always use chilled milk and seven up for this drink. As it is a summer drink, it should be perfectly cold enough to enjoy its real benefits.
Benefits –
The 50/50 combination of milk and soda provides a good deal of vitamins, minerals and electrolytes without a heavy or bloated feeling. It is also a good source of rapid energy replenishment.
And above all, this has one more beneficial quality than one and which is that the alkaline nature of milk neutralizes the acid in the stomach and the carbonation of the soda helps release the excess gas build up. Hence this is the most effective cure for people suffering from the painful acid reflux symptoms. Plus it’s a 2 ingredient magic that rocks.
Disadvantages –
- Doodh soda contains carbon dioxide that changes into the carbolic acid at reaching the stomach.
- This soda can damage the stomach as it increases acidity in the stomach that’s why problems related to stomach and liver can arise due to overconsumption of Soda.
Conclusion:
Doodh Soda is one of the most popular summer drink in the Punjab region of India and Pakistan. The mixture of Doodh (milk) and Soda forms a refreshing drink during the religious month of Ramadan. It makes people feel light and chilled even after a heavy meal.
It’s easy to make recipe makes it more popular among the Punjab region. Even children like this drink. But like any other food items, even its overconsumption causes stomach problems.
So these refreshing drink should be enjoyed by everyone and it can form a part of lunch or dinner, especially in summers. But intake of these drink also should be in limited amounts, looking at the soda which is a major ingredient of doodh soda.
