Cardamom Lassi
Credit: André Baranowski
SERVES 2
At her restaurant, Heather Carlucci-Rodriguez offers eight variations on lassi, the classic sweet-tart, creamy Indian yogurt drink, ranging from aam (mango) and nariyal (coconut) to gulab (rose) and nimbu (lemon). The elaichi (cardamom-flavored) variety is our favorite. "It's the lassi that people are the most hesitant to try," says Carlucci-Rodriguez, "but once they've had it, they keep coming back for more." Some traditional recipes call for adding ice to the drink, but Carlucci-Rodriguez found that yielded a version that was too watery for her taste.
2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. ground cardamom
1. Put yogurt, sugar, and cardamom into a blender and purée until well combined. Divide lassi between 2 glasses and chill for 30 minutes, until cold, or serve at once.
at first i was hesistant to try it but i was very curious as to what this would taste like. i did not have ground cardoamom but i did have green cardomom pods. i deshelled about 5, dropped the cardomom seeds into the yoghurt and sugar in my blender and blended till smooth.
this drink is by far the most interesting and fragrant drink of all. i think it would go great with lamb and rice.