Yogurt Drinks of the Indian Subcontinent, Part 4 of 4

Here are two more sweet lassis, including the very popular "mango lassi." 

Mango Lassi-This is a very popular sweet lassi, also called a "smoothie" in restaurants or specialty beverage shops in the U.S. There are also commercially bottled versions of mango lassi. How many brands are there? I have no idea, as I "tend" to prefer freshly made foods, but I did buy a bottled mango lassi recently at a South Asian shop. I guess it was maybe ten ounces, but it was far too sweet for me.

Ingredients for 4 servings or 2 large servings:

1 cup plain thick yogurt
1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon or more honey (see below)
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 cup milk
2/3 cup mango (fresh chopped or canned)
ice cubes

If you want to use fresh mangoes, you need well ripened mangoes. In this case too, you will likely want to add more honey, probably at least 1 tablespoon, but that's a matter of personal taste. Lately, I must admit that I've cheated... I mean, I've chosen a streamlined way; that is, canned mangoes, which usually come in a sweet syrup. If you use canned mangoes, you can reduce the amount of honey, but instead, use a little of the syrup, according to how sweet you want the lassi. You can add a little sprinkle of ground cardamom on top. Put all ingredients in a blender and blend for about 30 to 45 seconds, or until smooth.

Turmeric Lassi

Ingredients per large serving:

2/3 cup plain thick yogurt
1 banana (chilled, lightly frozen)
2/3 cup cold water
3 teaspoons ground turmeric
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
2 tablespoons honey
couple of ice cubes

The banana should be peeled and put into the freezer for about 10-12 minutes. Put all ingredients, including ice cubes, into a blender and blend for about 45 to 60 seconds, or until the banana and ice cubes are broken up and mixed in. You can sprinkle a little turmeric on top, as I've done in the photo.

WORD HISTORY: 
Mango-The ultimate origin of this word is uncertain, although it goes back to Tamil, a Dravidian language of southern Asia, especially from parts of India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore. The transliterated Tamil form, "mankay" (like, "main-kay"), meaning, "fruit of the mango tree."This was borrowed into Malay, a language of the Austronesian language family (which includes Tagalog/Filipino, one of the major languages of the Philippines), as "mangga," meaning, "mango." This was then borrowed by Portuguese^ as "manga," and English borrowed the word from Portuguese in the late 1500s, although its use became more common somewhat later, as the English planted mango trees in some of their tropical possessions in the New World.

^ The Portuguese were great explorers long ago, a fact sometimes forgotten, and they controlled East Timor, then called "Portuguese Timor," from the 1500s until 1975. It then became part of Indonesia, before gaining independence in 2002.  

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). 

Yogurt Drinks of the Indian Subcontinent, Part 2 of 4

What the people of the Indian subcontinent call "buttermilk," is not exactly the same as in much of the rest of the world. It is yogurt that has much of the butterfat removed by churning or by filtering yogurt through cheesecloth or muslin, so it is low fat. 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. Chaat masala is a blend of ground spices, including black salt, available in some supermarkets, but definitely available in Indian and Pakistani grocery stores. Ground curry leaves are not the same thing as "curry powder." They are used in South Asian cooking, especially in southern India and in Sri Lanka. The leaves are typically heated before use. They are not easily found, although areas with southern Indian or Sri Lankan communities are likely to have them. You may find the ground leaves much easier. They are used as a spice. By the way, "curry powder" is a spice blend of various and numerous spices. There is no set recipe, as the choice of spices to be included is a matter of  personal preference. 

Excellent hot weather drink, but good any time of year.

Salted Buttermilk/Chaas-This drink is more common in the north. You can do this in either of two ways: use 1 cup of low fat buttermilk, then add a scant tablespoon of thick yogurt. OR, you can use 1/4 cup thick yogurt mixed with 3/4 cup cold water. You can adjust the measurements somewhat to make the drink to the thickness you wish. The people of the Indian subcontinent "tend" to drink this more on the thinner side.

Ingredients, besides the liquid component:

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon powered black salt or regular salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin + small pinch for garnishing
1/2 teaspoon chaat masala
small ice cubes or crushed ice
1 to 2 mint leaves, torn

Put the liquid component into a blender. Add the black salt, the 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin and the chaat masala. Blend briefly until the drink is a bit foamy/frothy. Pour over some ice cubes in a glass, sprinkle a pinch of ground cumin on top, as well as the torn mint leaves.

Buttermilk of Southern India/Neer Mor-As with the first recipe, choose your liquid component. Then, for the other ingredients:

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 serrano chili, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cilantro leaves
1/2 teaspoon chaat masala
1/2 teaspoon ground curry leaves 

Put liquid component, ginger, lemon juice chili pepper, salt, cilantro, and chaat masala into a blender. Heat oil and then add mustard seeds until they begin to "pop." Add mustard seed/oil to blender. Blend about 30 seconds.

WORD HISTORY:
Carp-This is the noun for the fish (the verb is from a different source). "Carp" is from the Goths, whose Gothic language is classified as East Germanic, the last elements of which died out in the 1700s in the Crimea. Gothic had "karpa" for the name of the fish. Latin borrowed the word as "carpa" which it passed on to Latin-based Old French as "carpe." English borrowed the word in the second half of the 1300s, with the Latin form seemingly gaining a foothold, but then heavily reinforced by French.

Yogurt Drinks of the Indian Subcontinent, Part 1 of 4

A "lassi" * is a yogurt based drink of the Indian Subcontinent, seemingly developed in the Punjab region, a region of northern India and eastern Pakistan, but the drink spread to other parts of the subcontinent. The hot climate is ideal for these refreshing drinks, which often have ice cubes added to chill them well. There are several varieties, with the most basic being "Salted Lassi." The lassi goes well back in history, as long ago as 500 to 1000 BC, or perhaps even longer. Today, blenders or stick blenders are often used to give a lassi some froth. I'm going to do this as a multi-part article, with a couple of different recipes in each part. Besides being good, and being good for you, lassis are easy to make. There is also the use of yogurt based buttermilk on the Indian subcontinent, with "neer mor" being a spiced buttermilk drink of southern India, with "Chaas" being the term used more in the north, including in Pakistan and as "ghol" in the Bengali region of India and Bangladesh.

Salt(ed) Lassi-3/4 cup plain thick yogurt (Indian or Greek), 1/4 cup cold water, 1/3 teaspoon salt, a good pinch of ground cumin. Ice cubes for serving. Put the yogurt, the water, the salt and the cumin into a blender. Blend for about 30 seconds. There should be a nice foam topping. Pour over ice cubes in a glass.

* Usually pronounced in English like the name of the famous dog, "Lassie," but in Hindi and Urdu, it has a short "a," as in "father," and emphasis is on the second part of the word, as if, "lah-SEE." Hindi and Urdu are Indo European languages from the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo European. They are related to English, but further down the family tree. 

Saffron Lassi: This is a much richer drink: 3/4 cup plain thick yogurt (Indian or Greek style), 1/4 cup milk, 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom, a good pinch of saffron strands soaked in two tablespoons of warm milk, a pinch of salt, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 or 2 tablespoons heavy cream, tablespoon crushed pistachios, 3 or 4 raisins, couple of ice cubes. Add the yogurt, milk, cardamom, saffron milk, honey and salt to a blender. Blend for about 30 seconds. Pour over a couple of ice cubes in a glass. Add a tablespoon or two of heavy cream on top, then sprinkle on the pistachios and raisins. 

WORD HISTORY: 
Pistachio-The ultimate origin of this word is unknown, but it goes back to transliterated Persian "pisteh," which was the name for the nut and for the tree. This was borrowed by Greek as transliterated "pistakion" ("pistake" for the tree), which was borrowed by Latin as "pistacium" ("pistachio nut"), which was passed onto Italian as "pistacchio," which was borrowed by French from Italian as "pistace," in the 1300s. English borrowed the word from French circa 1500, but then about one hundred years later English borrowed the Italian form, with the minor spelling adjustment to "pistachio," and this form prevailed.