LASSI

Lassi

Original Glass of lassi from the stall at Motihari

For a long time, I was looking for the perfect topic to start this blog when I came across a small Lassi Shop in the buzzing market place of Motihari ; A small town in Bihar , my father's hometown where I went to spend a few days with my grand parents. 

I had had several glasses of lassi before ; Ranging from kesari lassi from Leela Palace Bangalore, Sweet and sour lassi of Hyatt Delhi to authentic lassi in kulhad from Amritsar and many more. 

But none of these had unveiled my hidden ardent love for Lassi.

None proved to be as appealing as the Rs 20 lassi in the plastic takeaway glass from the small stall in the market place of Motihari. The refreshing glass of lassi was a bliss to my taste buds. Initially, I was skeptical about trying it out But only one sip of the sweet delight proved me wrong. It robbed me of all my doubts.

It was like a cool breeze on that hot summer day. The invigorating effect made my day . The thick , fresh malai(cream) at the bottom of the chilled drink along with the bits of peda and special rasgulla were an added bonus. 

I came back home, only to share my experience with my family and to return to the shop next day to buy a dozen of  more glasses of happiness.

I HAD TO share my experience with everyone and was compelled to recreate it.

The recreation was not as perfect as the original (Guess the secret ingredient was missing ) but was close enough. Following is my attempt to recreate the lassi.

Recipe :

Serves : 2 glasses

INGREDIENTS (measuring cup used, 1 cup = 250 ml)

• 2 cups chilled fresh curd/dahi or yogurt(preferably homemade)
• 1.5 to 2 cups chilled water or milk
• 6 to 8 tbsp sugar or add as per taste
• 1 tsp cardamom powder 
• 6 to 8 ice cubes (optional)
• 2 pieces of rasgulla smashed, a piece of peda (sudha ka peda)
• Rose syrup/Roohafza for garnishing
• 2 tsp fresh thick cream/Malai

"Mathana" to be used for perfect consistency

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Crush 8 to 10 cardamom pods. Remove the husk and crush the seeds. crush to a fine powder.
2. In a bowl, take 2 cups fresh chilled yogurt, preferably homemade.
3. With a mathana or blender or wired whisk just mix the curd till it become smooth.
4. The curd should be smooth before you add other ingredients to it.
5. Add 6 to 8 tbsp sugar or as required.
6. Add 2 cups chilled milk or water. The consistency of this lassi is neither thin nor thick. if you want a thick lassi, then add just 1 to 1.5 cups milk/water.
7. Now churn the lassi mixture.
8. Keep on churning till the sugar dissolves and you see a nice frothy layer on top. 
9. Now add 1 tsp of the crushed cardamom powder.
10. Just mix the mixture with mathana again. add ice cubes and mix again.
11. Put one tspn of fresh thick cream/ malai at the bottom of each tall glass.
12. Pour lassi in the glasses and serve. if you want, You can also top the lassi with 1 to 2 tbsp of malai (cream which collect on top of milk) or 1 to 2 tbsp of unsalted white butter/makhan.
13. Top the lassi with crushed rasgulla and peda pieces.
14. Garnish it with rose syrup/roohafza.

Tips: 

Small piece of rasgulla topped with roohafza would do the magic.

Hope , you too get hit by the same cool ,refreshing, sweet breeze of taste!!!

Suggestions  : 

• I had come across another mind blowing lassi at a dhaba on my way to Jim Crobett .The ice cold lassi in the kulhad ,"Malai mar ke" at MamaYadav dhaba, Hapur at NH24 was amazing. Do try it out with their famous aloo - pyaz ke parathe, if you get a chance.

• Best reasonable Punjabi lassi in Bangalore can be relished at Kapoor's Dhaba.