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Chai, lassi & drinks

Imli Aloo Bukhara Sharbat Recipe

املی آلو بخارے کا شربت بنانے کا طریقہ

Sweet-sour imli aloo bukhara sharbat: tamarind and dried plums simmered with sugar, strained, and served ice-cold with black salt and roasted cumin.
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Illustration of Imli Aloo Bukhara Sharbat

Prep

10 min

Cook

15 min

Marinate / soak

1 hr

Serves

6

Difficulty

Easy

Spice

Mild

Imli aloo bukhara sharbat is an old Pakistani summer drink that grandmothers swear by for cooling down and settling the stomach. Tamarind gives sharp sourness and the dried plums a fruity sweetness and deep colour. Simmering them together and leaving them to steep pulls out the most flavour before straining.

Ingredients

6 servings

For 6 servings

Measures

Method

  1. Rinse the tamarind and dried plums and put them in a pan with 3 cups water. Bring to a boil and simmer on low until the plums are soft and the tamarind has broken down.

    ⏱ 10 min

  2. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved, then simmer for 2 more minutes and turn off the heat.

    ⏱ 2 min

  3. Leave it to steep and cool, then mash the fruit well with your hand or a spoon.

    ⏱ 60 min

  4. Strain through a sieve, pressing hard on the pulp. Discard the stones and fibres.

  5. Stir in the chilled water, black salt, salt and roasted cumin. Taste and adjust, then serve over ice with a few mint leaves.

Tips for the best result

  • Keep the strained concentrate undiluted in a bottle and mix one part with two parts cold water as needed.
  • Gur in place of sugar gives a deeper, more old-fashioned flavour.

Common mistakes

  • Not pressing the pulp when straining. Most of the flavour stays in the sieve and the sharbat is thin.
  • Skipping the salt. Without black salt the drink tastes flat and overly sweet.

How to serve

Serve ice-cold at iftar or after a heavy summer meal.

Storing and reheating

The undiluted concentrate keeps 1 week in a clean bottle in the fridge. Diluted sharbat is best drunk the same day.

Nutrition and cost

Worked out from the ingredients, not measured in a lab. Treat both as a rough guide.

Per serving Estimate

Calories
160kcal
Protein
1g
Fat
0g
Carbs
42g
Fibre
1.6g
Sodium
300mg

Estimated from USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy (April 2018), public domain values for the raw ingredients (100% of the recipe by weight had data). Deep-frying oil is counted at 20%; bones and water lost in cooking are not subtracted, so bone-in and fried dishes can read high. Not medical advice. Method

Cost per servingEstimate

≈ Rs 4

Whole dish ≈ Rs 21 · 48% of ingredients by weight priced

From the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics weekly SPI, week ended 29 Oct 2026. Spices, herbs and some vegetables are not in the SPI and are left out unless you add your price, so the real cost is a little higher. How this works

Imli Aloo Bukhara Sharbat: questions people ask

Is imli aloo bukhara sharbat good for summer heat?

It is a traditional cooling drink in Pakistani homes, and with a little salt it helps replace what you lose in the heat. Keep it lightly sweet.

Serve it with, and similar recipes

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Read this recipe in Urdu: املی آلو بخارے کا شربت بنانے کا طریقہ

https://handi.danixsoft.com/recipes/imli-aloo-bukhara-sharbat · Handi, DanixSoft