Craic On

Lovely Lassis

When I worked in Kingston-on-Thames south of London I went out to lunch with two work colleagues of mine to an Indian restaurant. A Jewish friend of mine, Dave Goodman, told us about this drink that he called a lassi that he said that the Indians drink by the flagon. It wasn’t on the menu but he told us that they’ll know what it is and would be able to make it up for us.

It sounded good.

“Can we have three lassis” I asked the Indian waiter.

“What?” he said.

I said it louder.

“Can we have three lassis” I said “One for each of us”.

“Excuse me?” he replied.

I’d been done. I turned to Dave and said “There’s no such thing, is there”.

But there was. It was just my pronunciation of it and when Dave said it he immediately knew what it was.

Lassis All Round

We had a couple of lassis each (why not?).

The Indians drink it by the jug back home. It’s made from yoghurt and either salt, sugar or mango juice for the salt lassi, sweet lassi and mango lassi. There’s also a Bhang lassi but I won’t go into that.

They never have it on the menu but it’s their little secret and they drink loads of it.

Delicious

I always ask for it at Indian restaurants and they normally come up with it. Indeed the Indian restaurant on the Malin Road used to do it for us and would deliver it in one of those two litre milk cartons. it was delicious. The Karma restaurant in the Malin Road used to do it too.

The Indian takeaway in James’s Street don’t do it but you can make it yourself and have it with your Indian takeaway.It goes very well with it.

Mango Lassi

I would recommend the mango lassi to you.

All you gave to do is buy a pot of natural yoghurt. It is better with a touch of vanilla but you can buy a big pot of Vanilla flavoured Natural Yoghurt in Gillens. You then just add Mango juice to make it into a liquid. Don’t put too much in or it will make it too liquidic. It’s best when it is able to flow into a glass but it still retains a thickness.

You can sweeten it if you like with, preferably, honey or a spoonful of sugar. You could put a touch of condensed milk in it if you like but it’s basically just yoghurt made into a liquid by diluting it with mango juice.

it tastes delicious and will go well with your Indian meal. Next time you are in an Indian restaurant, ask for it. They’ll be delighted that you know about it and will almost certainly be able to knock it up for you.

I’m just sipping one now as I write this.

Delicious!