Jamu is a traditional Indonesian medicinal drink, which is popularly known as turmeric shot or turmeric ginger shot. There are several types of Jamu that can be prepared with various herbs and ingredients which possess powerful health benefits. Yet Turmeric Jamu is the most known variation outside of Indonesia, and luckily the ingredients for this health drink are easy to source.

But Turmeric and ginger are not the only ingredients in this health drink. Tamarind which is another sour and tangy fruit rich in vitamins and minerals is also added to Jamu, not just to enhance the taste, but also because of its therapeutic properties. Black pepper is added as well, as it increases the bioavailability of curcumin by around 2000%.
Try your best to use natural sweetners such as rock sugar, jaggery, palm sugar or coconut sugar to sweeten your drink. Adding salt may be optional but by doing so we are able to cover the 6 basic tastes of Ayurveda – bitter, sweet, sour, pungent, salty and astringent.

One can prepare up to two litres of this healthy drink and store it in a refrigerator, so that it can last for up to a week. However it is advisable to drink it at room temperature or warm since cold foods suppress digestion.

Turmeric Ginger Shot
Cuisine: IndonesianDifficulty: Easy50
servings20
minutes20
minutes350
kcalDelicious and easy Turmeric Ginger Shot – Jamu
Ingredients
200 gram of fresh turmeric
50 grams of fresh ginger
100 grams of tamarind pulp
1 tsp of salt
100 grams of Jaggery
1 litre of Water
Directions
- Wear rubber gloves or cover your hands before peeling the turmeric root, to avoid orange stains. Smear the surface on which you are working with oil as well.
- Wash the turmeric root and ginger root, and then peel them. Try to scrape them and remove only a very thin layer of the skin.
- Grate the turmeric and ginger very coarsely. You can also grind them in a blender coarsely but it will stain your blender jar permanently.
- Add 1 to 1.5 litres of water in a large vessel along with all the ingredients and bring it to a boil.
- Boil for 20 minutes, allow it to cool and then pass it through a strainer.
- You can boil the residue again with 1/2 to 1 litre of water to get a more diluted Jamu.