Aaahhhhh! the thought of Lassi itself takes me way back in the past to my childhood days. The doodhwala (milkman) would bring an almost yellow color milk, yep, you read it right: yellow; it was buffallo milk with full fat. My Grandmother would boil the milk and remove the Malai (butter) and save it up in a little jar which she kept in a cool place. She would then blend equal amounts of buffallo milk (after it cooled completely), full fat, with home made sweet yogurt (Which ferments to yogurt in just 4 hours and no more and tastes sweet without any sugar added). She would put in a little sugar, a pinch of salt and blend the mixture into the world’s best lassi. Finally; she would top it with the malai she had saved earlier and one sip of this lassi was a round about ticket to heaven and back.
Today I find myself standing in front of my Vitamix using 3/4 th parts organic yogurt (home made or store bought, whichever is on hand) and the rest 1/4 parts with Whole milk. I add about 2 cups of ice to the blender and blend the whole mixture with pure cane sugar. Satisfying; not an exact recreation of my grandmother’s painstaking and meticulous creation but still fine on hot summer days. Vitamix frothes it up like crazy and once you get the hang of it, you’ve a tall chilled glass of buttery lassi.
As a new bride a few years back, I met an equally enthusiastic newly married woman who was wildly experimenting away in the kitchen. The two of us had tried Mint Lassi which was blech to me and Yum to her. She also created Elaichi Lassi which was Okay. The best of them was probably Rose Lassi and Pista Lassi. They were surprisingly tasty! We blended actual rose petals, sugar, and milk in the blender, strained the mixture and add it to the basic sweet lassi and blended again. It was really nice. When we tried the same with Rose Water, it was plain OK. For the Pista Lassi, we roasted the pistachio nuts (unsalted), powdered it, mixed some elaichi powder to it and topped our lassis with the mixture. It was really a unique tasting but totally worth it experiment. One of the more memorable lassis that passed the ‘dude test’ where the husbands drank the lassi without much fuss or suspicious glances toward the drink and then back at us alternately for 10 minutes straight was probably Date Lassi where we replaced seedless dates instead of sugar! My friend suggested a Jello Lassi! Thank goodness we did not try that! I’m sure she must have, but never bothered to tell me about her ‘dude test’ result or her own experience.
And that concludes all versions of Sweet Lassi experimented by me in my kitchen; I know as I can see you going ‘tch, tch, poor guy Radha’s husband: the guinea pig.’ Share your stories, recipes with pictures and we can create a Guest Blog for you. Do you have any more sweet Lassi recipes to share? Do so, I’m curious to see what I missed out. Lots of love, Radha!
. Add some ice and serve. With a spoon or melon baller scoop some of the fruit and keep aside before dunking the rest of the fruit in the strainer. Add the balls as shown in the picture for some texture in the juice. Add ice and you’re ready for a cool sip. One can also add some lemon juice for a tangy taste. Mint leaves add more freshness. For me? I just love it as is without any of the ‘extras’ except maybe for some ice. Enjoy your summer!
