Easy Lassi

Fruit Lassi (like the Mango one) is very tasty. But in Malaysia, what I usually go for is the Savoury Lassi. It is flavoured with cumin, and it is one of my favourites when I go and have Indian food. It goes really well when you are eating curries and biryanis. I have also tried a Lassi that smells heavenly and tastes sweet like nectar. Here you can find the 2 variations, the savoury spice lassi, and the fragrant sweet lassi.

Its very easy to make. I use Ariani here, or you can use the yogurt-water mix (find the recipe for that here) too, or kefir. I like to use gula melaka here, grated. It adds a bit of colour to the drinks, but feel free to use honey (which tastes excellent!) or any sweetener of your choice. Sometimes, when I can find fresh pandan leaves, I will make pandan essence and use that instead of the rose water.

Note: The pictures here don't do it any justice. It was so hot that the ice has started to melt and made the lassi lose its bubbles and look watery....

Ingredients: (makes 2 glasses)

Savoury Spice Lassi
500ml of straight from the fridge, cold Ariani (or substitute)
1 tsp of gula melaka sugar (or sweetener of your choice)
1/4 tsp of ground cumin
1/4 tsp of ground cardamom (how? *read below)
A pinch of salt
A pinch of whole cumin seeds to scatter as garnish
Ice

Fragrant Sweet Lassi
500ml of straight from the fridge, cold Ariani (or substitute)
1 tbsp of gula melaka sugar, to taste (or sweetener of your choice)
1/2 tsp of ground cardamom
1 tsp of rose water (or any blossom water you have)
Ice
A pinch of crushed almonds (or flaked)

Preparation:

For the savoury spice lassi:

1. In a blender, add the Ariani, sugar, spices and salt. Pulse until its mixed.
2. In a glass, add the ice. Pour the mix into the glass.
3. Garnish with the cumin seeds.
4. Serve!

For the fragrant sweet lassi:

1. In a blender, add the Ariani, sugar, cardamom and rose water. Pulse until its mixed.
2. In a glass, add the ice. Pour the mix into the glass.
3. Garnish with the crushed almonds.
4. Serve!

*Ground cardamom: Cardamom pods are quite easy to find, but ground, is harder. Why? because the seeds inside the pods, once exposed, will start to lose its lovely fragrance. You will be able to find them ground, of course, but its usually ground together with the pods and well, quality-wise, its not as good. It is the third expensive spice in the world weight-wise after saffron and vanilla, better not waste your money with something sub-par. So what I do is put the pods in the lesung (pestle and mortar) and crack the pods open. I discard the shell pods and I ground the seeds until fine.