Sweet Lassi (Yogurt Drink)

We are on our famous cross-country trip across the hot and heated summer plains of Northern India, making our way to the cool hills of Jammu and Kashmir. It has been a long ride from our night stop at Ambala in Punjab. It is only mid-morning, but the sun is bearing down strong and hard. Hot gusts of dust hit us from time to time. We plan to make a pit stop at Ludhiana, which is about 65 miles away from Ambala. The roads are rough and the going slow. It is a busy highway, with the laden public carriers (trucks with merchandise) swerving dangerously close. We call them Public Killers as there are involved in so many fatal road accidents.

Finally, we arrive at a much-needed stop. Mama orders us all tall glasses of sweet lassi, a yogurt drink from a Halwai. Loosely translated, a halwai is a confectioner who makes Indian sweets. Halwais come from the Vaishya caste whose contribution to Indian society is confectionery and making sweets (candies).

I watch the halwai  closely as he fixes the drinks. He takes big dollops of yogurt from the  large flat  earthenware pot, on which he has a block of ice to keep the yogurt cool. The ice is wrapped in a gunny sack to prevent it from melting. Those were the times when small restaurants and dhabbas  did not have  refrigerators. Things are different today.  The yogurt is so thick you can cut through it with a knife. He puts the yogurt into a large stainless steel jug. To this he adds sugar and iced water along with the juice of a couple of lemons. After he quickly blends together the ingredients, he pours the lassi into tall glasses.

Maybe I was hot, sweaty, and dusty, but it was about the best lassi I had ever tasted.

Lassi is a yogurt drink that you can make either sweet or salty or with fruit. It originated in Punjab, and was a smoothie in India long before the world caught up!

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Lassi (Yogurt Drink)

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Originating in the Punjab, Lassi, is a refreshing, healthy yogurt drink that is common in India, and is now popular all over the world.

Ingredients

• 3 cups plain yogurt (for a thicker lassi, use whole milk yogurt, but you can also use nonfat or low-fat)
• 4 tbsp sugar (or sugar substitute)
• 2 tbsp lemon or lime juice
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups crushed ice

Instructions 

• Put all the ingredients with a ½ cup of crushed ice in a blender (or hand whisk) and blend until smooth. Taste for sugar. It should be sweet with a hint of tartness with the lemon/lime juice. Adjust to your taste.
• Pour into tall glasses and serve. You can garnish with some mint leaves or lemon/lime wedges. Personally, I don't like mint leaves as their strong flavor tends to detract from the taste of the lassi.

Notes

Salted Lassi: If you can't have sugar or don't like the sweetness, you can substitute the sugar with salt (to your taste). Add a dash of cinnamon or roasted cumin powder and garnish with fresh, chopped cilantro (coriander) leaves.

Check my website for Mango Lassi, Raspberry Lassi, and Pineapple Lassi. You can also use flavored yogurt to make lassi, but I prefer the taste of lassi made from scratch.

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: American, Indian

Keyword: lassi, salt, yogurt

-Halwai Photo by Tiago Rosado on Unsplash
-Lorry Photo by Siddhesh Mangela on Unsplash