Sattu— the Time Tested, Economical and Organic Indian Summer Drink

• None of the food can equate this ancient instant food deride- the role this first Indian Horlicks played in history and the making of it
• For decades, this instant food made of roasted barley with absolutely no expiry date has been the secret behind this battle-worthy team
• If food containing lesser carbohydrates and higher levels of protein and fat are considered to be good for diabetic patients, sattu seems to possess the right combination

Sept 19, 2016: For decades, this instant food made of roasted barley with absolutely no expiry date has been the secret behind this battle-worthy team. Also called 'tsampa'— another form of sattu that is popular in north India, including Punjab. For thousands of years, it has been the staple food for warriors and monks alike who had to go without proper food for a long time because they were either guarding the monastery or walking treacherous pathways. In Bihar, sattu— much like smoked meat in North-East and pickled vegetables in the West— is considered a rainy day buffer purely because of its impressively long shelf life and, of course, the versatility.

Sattu can be experimented to create interesting dishes- both cooked and uncooked- with incredible deliciousness, example of this is the sattu ka paratha— a traditional gourmet dish that people serves with katti dal and chokha. Sattu is popular among Indians as a cooling drink that can help you survive the killing summers. Made with salt, sattu and a dash of lemon, this is thicker than shikanji and is the best coolant and digestive after a heavy Bundeli meal.

The ease of transporting it and its edibility has made sattu a prime tool for the revolutionary as well, who called it their "power food." Folklore has it that, if a person had to go without a proper meal for months in a row. That's when this interesting premix (sattu now was prepared with gram, wheat and rice) would give them the strength to continue and to have healthy diet.

In 2002, it was no surprise that a conference attended by physicians, held in Delhi, concluded that sattu is ideal for diabetic patients as it holds its own on what is called the 'glycemic index'. The glycemic index ranks foods on how they affect our blood sugar levels. This index measures how much your blood sugar increases in the two to three hours after eating. If food containing lesser carbohydrates and higher levels of protein and fat are considered to be good for diabetic patients, sattu seems to possess the right combination.

– by Yokeshwari Manivel of NewsGram