Yogurt Drinks of the Indian Subcontinent, Part 3 of 4

This is what some term "a sweet lassi."  It is not quite as thick as some other lassi drinks.

Mint Lassi (Borhani), for 2 large servings or 3 or 4 smaller servings

2 cups thick yogurt
2 cups water
1/4 cup fresh mint
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon chopped green chili pepper (serrano or jalapeño, is fine)
2 tablespoons ground black salt (see note below)
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Blend all ingredients for about 45 seconds. You can always put a couple of ice cubes in the blender to chill the drink. NOTE: About the black salt called for in the one recipe, there are a couple types of black salt you might find in large supermarkets, spice stores or, certainly, in Indian or Pakistani grocery stores: one is truly black in color, which often comes from Hawaii. The Hawaiian black salt I have is in small pieces that are about half the size of caraway seeds. I put whatever amount I want on a completely dry paper towel or napkin, then I fold the towel over and smack it with a meat mallet. I also have the type from the Indian subcontinent, which is already in powdered form, with some larger pieces of salt mixed in. It is like a pink or light purple color. Black salt has a sulfur smell to it.

Butter Lassi (Makhaniya lassi)

This is a rich drink, although you can always thin it out by reducing the yogurt amount somewhat and replacing it with milk.

2/3 cup thick yogurt
1/3 cup milk
several saffron threads in 2 tablespoons warm water
2/3 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter (technically should be unsalted butter, but I won't tell if you use salted butter)
ice cubes

Blend all ingredients, except butter, for 30 seconds. Pour into a glass, add butter on top. The ice cubes should be blended with the ingredients too, to chill the drink.

WORD HISTORY: 
Blend-This word, related to other Germanic words "blind" and "blond," goes back to Indo European "bhel," with the idea of, "to shine, to be bright, to be light in color." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "blandanan," which meant, "to make light in color, to make cloudy/murky;" thus also, "to mix (to make something light or cloudy)." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "blandan" (also the prefixed form, "geblandan"), which meant, "to mix, to blend;" thus also, "to mingle." Further, Old Norse, another Germanic language, was brought to eastern and northern areas of England by people collectively called "Danes" by the English, although they were not all from Denmark, and they brought their form of the same word (with the same general meaning), as "blanda." Together these became "blenden," before the modern version. The noun came from the verb in the mid 1800s. Several related forms in the other Germanic languages have died out, but German has "Blendling" (noun meaning, "mongrel," but now a bit outdated); Danish and Norwegian have "blande" (verb) and "blanding" (noun); Icelandic "blanda" (same form for both verb and noun ), but also "blendingr" (meaning "mixture, hybrid"); Swedish "blanda" (verb) and "blandning" (noun).