Off for 3 weeks from 7th December to India; hope the mess this site is in is cleared up by the time ...
Off for 3 weeks from 7th December to India; hope the mess this site is in is cleared up by the time I get back & that the number of cheats & churners will have decreased. Season's greetings to you all. xx
Member since:10.10.2002
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No, I'm not talking about putting Lassie in a blender to drink! God Forbid I'd ever eat the nation's favourite celebrity dog or any other dog let alone drink one!
No folks, lassi is a cool and refreshing Indian non-alcoholic drink which can be made to be either sweet or salty. I'm going to tell you how to make both so you can choose which one you prefer.
In India lassi is the most popular drink apart from tea. Indians love their tea but tea is hot and the cold drink of choice for most Indians (especially South Indians) is lassi.
There are several ways of making lassi and you can choose which way you prefer; being lazy I prefer the easier way without having to get the blender out and then having to wash all the bits up afterwards.
Some of the more adventurous of you may have tried this drink in an Indian restaurant already and if you liked it, this recipe will be of use. Of course, if you've tried and hated it, stop reading now :)
LASSI BASICS
The basic ingredients of a traditional Indian lassi drink are:
• Yoghurt • Water • Sugar
or salt
Simple as that!
But don't run away, please read on…
The best yoghurt to make a delicious lassi with is natural set yoghurt; I prefer to use Onken Biopot (the low fat one as it's much easier to stir and is much less fattening). I like to make a pint of this at a time so if I talk about the measurements when using a pint glass you can change the measures accordingly or be greedy like me and have a BIG pint-ful of this yummy drink.
• Spoon 5 or 6 tablespoons of yoghurt into the glass • Fill the glass almost to the top with cold water • Stir vigorously for a minute or so with a table spoon (using natural set yoghurt means it's much easier to mix the yoghurt and water without having bits floating around).
Then you can:
a) mix in 2 tablespoons of sugar for a sweet lassi, or b) mix in half a teaspoon of salt for a salty lassi
Now if you want to be adventurous and really want cooling down on a hot summer's day, (you know we've been getting many more of those here in the UK in the last few years…), chuck in a few cubes of ice and let them melt and give it a good stir again before drinking, or leave it in the freezer for 15 minutes, or even just in the fridge for half an hour or so before drinking - if you can wait that long!
Some people have a sweeter tooth than others so might want to add more than two tablespoons of sugar, and some people might find half a teaspoon of salt is too much salt for their taste, so once you've tried it once and if you feel like trying it again, experiment with different quantities of sugar or salt till you find the right taste for yourself.
You can do all of the above in a blender with additional cubes of ice for a really cool frosty lassi and you can add or deduct sugar or salt to your own taste.
SOME OTHER VARIATIONS
Some people like to add mango pulp to the mix to make this into a mango lassi (the sweet one not the salty one), this works better in a blender, but don't add too much mango pulp as this can be very fattening.
Slice up a banana and add that to the mix too (not with the mango, although it wouldn't harm you if you did, it would just have a rather unusual taste).
Some people like to substitute half the water for full fat or semi-skimmed milk to add to the taste. I prefer not to do this as I prefer my lassi to be more natural and adding milk, although does add a nice flavour, does seem like cheating and not like having a "real lassi".
*ALCOHOL WARNING* - this is one I quite enjoy - the Vodka lassi - proceed with caution, it's very addictive!
• 1 parts Vodka • 3 parts yoghurt • 4 parts water • 1 tablespoon sugar
Mix it up all up and add lots of ice (or stick it in the blender with the ice) and you have a yummy Vodka cocktail!
I think I've used up my creative energies for one day and I can't think of any other way to make these for you to try out, but you can read more about lassi drinks and how to make them at:
The links above have some similar methods of making lassi to what I've described above and some have some completely different methods, like the last one talks about mint lassi; I've never tried this myself, but am quite intrigued to find out if it's nice.
I would be interested to know if you try any of my suggestions and how they turned out and whether or not you liked the tastes.
Pictures of Recipes for Drinks
A cool glass of lassi with a mint leaf on top
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I don't like yoghurt so doubt I'd like a lassi (even the vodka one!), but hubby might like to try it!
juliet_bravo 25.10.2006 22:54
I've tried a vodka lassi when I was about 20 and I have to say I was very VERY ill... mind you I had already drank a bottle of red wine and four vodka and oranges beforehand :)
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