Lassi is a yogurt-based beverage, originated from India where it exists in several versions: salty, spicy or sweet. Sweet Lassi is a recent invention that is flavoured with rosewater or lemon, mango, or other fruit juice. It’s a very refreshing drink to have during a hot summer weather and is also a great way to dose that fire from an overly spicy dish.
I can still remember the first time I had lassi…no, it wasn’t in Singapore but in France. Wait… Singapore girl never had lassi before in her entire life living in Singapore??? You must be wondering which planet I’ve been living in. And it takes a French man to introduce this delicious drink to this Suah Koo (pronounced as “swah-koo” – a Hokkien dialect word) cooking ninja. Given the large Indian community in Singapore, you’d expect it to be the other way around… how on earth I never once tried lassi in my whole life in Singapore, beats me.
Rose Lassi
(taken from Bôllyfood by Marie-Laure Tombini)
Ingredients
- 300 g Greek yogurt
- 4 tbsp sugar (fine)
- 1 tbsp rose essence
- 3 drops red colouring
Directions
- Mix all the ingredients with 150 ml water or whisk the mixture until frothy.
- Keep it in the refrigerator till it’s ready to be served.
The Verdict
It’s super delicious and is as good as those I drank in the restaurants. Had I known it’s so easy to make one at home, I would have made some long long time ago, no need to go to an Indian restaurant for one anymore.
Notes
Because we couldn’t get our hands on rose essence, we did ours with some rose syrup instead, and skipped on the sugar. We also experimented with the 2 different way of preparing it: the whisked one was a bit too thick to our taste, and the solution of adding water gave a more satisfying and liquid enough drink (I like not to drink with a spoon… and I could adjust the amount of water to suit my taste). Also found out that 300 ml yogurt will only make 4 small glasses of lassi.
Some make their lassi with ice instead of water and blend it in the blender. It’ll probably be more of a frozen yogurt.
