One Page Cookbook 1001 Lassis (Indian Yogurt Drink)

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 of the one page cookbook 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.