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Lassi, a yogurt drink that is common in India, is becoming popular all over the world. It is a refreshing summer drink to combat the heat. I normally just like it plain with no fruit, but once in a while, I will fix it with fruit. It is a great substitute for a light lunch or a mid-day snack. My youngest sister and her daughters love it after a workout at the gym.

Raspberry Lassi (Raspberry Yogurt Drink)

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Servings 2
Lassi, a refreshing, healthy yogurt drink that is common in India, is now popular all over the world.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup plain yogurt (fat-free, low-fat, your choice)
  • 1 cup fresh raspberries (or berries of your choice)
  • 2-3 tbsp sugar (optional or sugar substitute)
  • 1 cup ice or ice cubes (crushed)

Instructions 

  • Place all the ingredients with a ½ cup of crushed ice in a blender (or hand whisk) and blend until smooth. Taste for sugar. Save the extra ice in case you want the drink colder.
  • Pour into long stemware or regular glasses. Garnish with chopped raspberries or raspberries on a cocktail stick.

Notes

You can substitute 1 cup of fresh raspberries for 1 cup of frozen raspberries.
You can convert this into a milkshake by substituting the yogurt with a cup of milk, almond milk or oat milk. Just make sure both milk and fruit are well chilled, so the milk does not split. Adjust the sugar to your liking. Serve with dollops of ice cream and chopped nuts.       
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: American, Indian
Keyword: drinks, lassi, raspberry, yogurt

Lassi, a yogurt drink that is common in India, is becoming popular all over the world. It is a refreshing summer drink to combat the heat. I normally just like it plain with no fruit, but once in a while, I will fix it with fruit. It is a great substitute for a light lunch or a mid-day snack. My nieces love it after their band has finished playing at a summer festival.

Mango Lassi (Mango Yogurt Shake)

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Servings 2
Lassi, a refreshing, healthy yogurt drink that is common in India, is now popular all over the world.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup yogurt (full cream or low fat)
  • 2 mangoes (large, ripe, skin removed and diced)
  • 3 tbsp sugar (less or more to taste)
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 cup crushed ice

Instructions 

  • Place all the ingredients in your blender (or use a hand whisk) and blend until smooth.
  • Pour into long-stem glasses or regular glasses. Garnish with a wedge of mango or a few mint leaves.       

Notes

When I feel lazy, but still crave a mango lassi, I buy a can of Kesar mango pulp from the Indian grocery store and use that instead of fresh mangoes, but I still prefer the taste of fresh mangoes in the lassi!
To substitute: Use 2 cups of canned mangoes for the fresh. Since it is in syrup, the pulp is quite sweet, be sure to adjust the sugar according to your taste.
You can also substitute almond or coconut yogurt for the milk yogurt.
You can convert this into a milkshake by substituting the yogurt with a cup of milk, almond milk or oat milk. Just make sure both milk and fruit are well chilled, so the milk does not split. Adjust the sugar to your liking. Serve with dollops of ice cream and chopped nuts.    
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: American, Indian
Keyword: lassi, mango, shake, yogurt

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!

Lassi (Yogurt Drink)

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 10 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

Lassi, a yogurt drink that is common in India, is becoming popular all over the world. It is a refreshing summer drink to combat the heat. I normally just like it plain with no fruit, but once in a while, I will fix it with fruit. It is a great substitute for a light lunch or a mid-day snack. My youngest sister and her daughters love it after working out at the gym.

Pineapple Lassi (Pineapple Yogurt Drink)

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Servings 2
Lassi, a refreshing, healthy yogurt drink that is common in India, is now popular all over the world.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup plain yogurt (full fat, low fat, or no fat)
  • 5 oz fresh pineapple (chilled, peeled, and chopped or 5 oz of canned pineapple)
  • 2 tbsp sugar (depending on the sweetness of pineapple, or use sugar substitute)
  • ½ cup pineapple juice (if using canned pineapple)
  • 1 cup ice or ice cubes (crushed)

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. Save the extra ice in case you want the drink colder.
  • Serve in tall stemware or regular glasses, garnished with a pineapple rind, chopped pineapple, or mint leaves.

Notes

You can adjust your lassi according to your taste. If you like a less thick lassi, then add more water/ice to the mix.
You can convert this into a milkshake by substituting the yogurt with a cup of milk,  almond milk or oat milk. Just make sure both milk and fruit are well chilled, so the milk does not split. Adjust the sugar to your liking. Serve with dollops of ice cream and chopped nuts.      
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: American, Indian
Keyword: drinks, lassi, pineapple, yogurt