Indian Mango Lassi

So, in the end I had to abandon my blog for another whole week, but now, now finally, I handed in my thesis!!! That's the end of it. Not even going to look back again. It's all just waiting for the grade now.

I took one day to celebrate. I sat back, did nothing and let my boyfriend take me out for dinner that night. And now I've found another place that needs work: my blog. Where is all the creative energy I had a month ago? Just to get back into things I'm going to start with a little project: I'm going to be making a series on drinks from all over the world. Are you with me?

 
Let's start in India (because we can), where they invented the lassi. Lassi is a yoghurt-based drink. It can be either sweet or salty. There are several common flavours, such as mango, plain sweet or salty and rosewater, but the possibilities are endless. In India, people drink lassis mostly in summer to beat the heat. For that reason it's quite important to serve them chilled. They taste better that way as well.



You know, I actually tried to find the "Indian" word for Mango Lassi, and suprisingly it translates to Mango Lassi (correction: "aam ki" or "aam" seems to translate to mango in Hindi). Somehow I found it dissapointing. Then again, after reading a few Indonesian sites, I found they use a lot of English words. It's funny to hear the word "almonds" randomly in an Indonesian video on how to make mango lassi.

Aam ki lassi - Mango Lassi

1 cup/1 whole mango
1 cup (Greek or other thick) yoghurt
1/2-3/4 cup milk *
honey to taste (or any other type of sweetener/sugar )
pistachios and mango puree for decoration
optional: cardamom, rose water, saffron

1. Put all ingredients, with exception of the decoration, in a blender.
2. Blend until smooth.
3. Serve cold with crushed pistachios and mango puree.

* Sometimes water, crushed ice or a combination is used. I used kefir, a sort of a buttermilk. It really comes down to your preferences. Use more or less depending on the thickness of your yoghurt.

There seems to be no traditional way of making mango lassi. The whole recipe comes down to tasting and personal preferences. So by all means use half the amount of mango, double the yoghurt and use mango-flavoured water rather than milk. Go ahead. Do it!

Now that I'm all free again, please look forward to more recipes! You think I could manage two posts a week? Sounds exciting! I'm already looking forward to my first round-up or top10 of -in this case- drinks from all over the world. Do you have any recipes you think should be in a top 10 of drinks from all over the world? Anything you'd like to see? I'd love to hear it!