Every cuisine evolves from locally available stuff. When a cuisine absorbs different ingredients and different cooking techniques from other cultures, it gets enriched.
This assimilation has never before been easier. We now have access to a large variety of ingredients and cooking techniques and so can create a huge array of traditional recipes, made from exotic ingredients. Eating food from other culturesis probably the easiest way to understand and appreciate them.
Indian cuisine discovered that when fermented milk, the yogurt, is blended with sugar, it makes a delicious drink, the lassi. Seems simple, but not many cuisines across the world whip up so many varieties of fermented milk drinks. Other cuisines, however have a large array of fermented milk products. We can borrow their ingredients and lend them our technique, thus unshackling lassi from yogurt and let it be made from fermented milk across the world.
Though Indian lassis are made from cow / buffalo milk, lassis can be made from any fermented milk. Each culture has its own way of fermenting milk and almost all of them can be turned into delicious lassis. Using the Indian technique of blending fermented milk with a variety of flavourings and additives, a large variety of global lassis can be created.
The base of all lassis is fermented milk. This is blended with a variety of flavourings as listed in column 2 and additives listed in column 3 to give a thousand different exotic lassis
Kefir, from
Viili is a Finnish version of yogurt made by curdling milk with special bacteria. Like Indian yogurt, previously made Viili is used as a starter for the next batch.
Kaymak, from
The central Asian Kumis is fermented mare's milk. Commercial Kumis uses cow's milk, mixed in with various additives, to make it similar to mare's milk.
Filmjölk, from
The South African Amasi is made by fermenting unpasteurised cow's milk in a container made from calabash / hide sack.
Doogh , from
The viscous Matsoni is Georgian version of yogurt.
Lassi is a blended yogurt drink, with the consistency of a milkshake. It may be sweet or salty, flavoured or plain, shaken, stirred or blended, simple or bursting with goodies like cream, nuts and fruits. In Rajasthan, a special kind of lassi, the Bhang lassi, even has marijuana in it. It is perfectly legal and is even sold in government approved stalls. It comes in different strengths, with the most potent of them being advertised as “Full power, 24 hour, no toilet, no shower” ! Bhang lassi is also made and consumed across North India especially during Holi, the festival of colours. Regular lassis are very popular across India. Punjab is the undisputed lassi capital where a huge variety of lassi is drunk from supersized glasses.
Though traditional lassis are made from cow/ buffalo milk, they can be made from any milk, including soy milk curdled into yogurt. Thin lassis are made from buttermilk, thick lassis are made from yogurt and even thicker ones can be made by blending yogurt with milk powder or cream. Column 1 lists these variations. With advances in food processing, we now have ready access to a variety of flavoured yogurts/ yogurt smoothies. All these can be turned into delicious lassis.
Column 2 lists the different flavouring techniques. Many lassis are not flavoured. But a variety of flavourings like cardamom, saffron etc can be used.
Almost anything edible can be blended in with the lassi as listed in column 3. A wide variety of fruit, nuts, honey etc can be blended in.
A rich glass of lassi can become a full meal in itself. Use the table and the model recipes below to cook up your own variation of this classic drink.
Off this goes to Mythreyee's Cool Desserts.
Model recipes :
Lemon Lassi
Raspberry Lassi
Mango lime lassi
Orange flavoured lassi
Cardamom lassi
Watermelon Lassi
Mango Cardamom lassi
Avocado Lassi
Rasberry Lassi
Orange Flower Lassi with Saffron
Coconut and Lime Lassi
Strawberry Lassi
Cardamom Lassi
Black Grape Lassi
Banana Lassi
Salty Mango Lassi with nutmeg
Vanilla flavoured lassi with mint
Mango pineapple lassi
