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Salted Lassi
Serves 4 Prep 10 min Cook 2 min Total 12 min

Salted Lassi

Punjabi namkeen lassi: cold yogurt sharpened with salt, roasted cumin and a tight slap of black pepper.

Serves 4 Prep 10 minutes Cook 2 minutes (to toast the cumin) Units Rate

Overview

The savoury counterpart to sweet lassi, and the one you'll be glad of after anything aggressively spicy. The base is the same cold yogurt loosened with water, but instead of sugar and cardamom the seasoning runs the other way: a generous pinch of salt, freshly toasted and ground cumin seeds, a crack of black pepper, and a tear of mint or fresh coriander. Toasting the cumin matters; the seeds wake up properly in a dry pan for under a minute and stop tasting like a jar of spice. Some Punjabi houses add a small pinch of asafoetida (hing) for digestive depth; others stir through a spoonful of mint chutney. The result is closer to ayran or doogh than a sweet drink, a buttermilk pour that's both refreshing and faintly savoury. Drink it ice-cold with a thali, with biryani, or on a hot afternoon when you don't want anything sweet near your teeth.

Ingredients

Spice prep

  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (whole; for toasting)

Lassi base

  • 600 g thick full-fat plain yogurt (Greek-style or whole-milk dahi)
  • 350 ml cold water (start with 300 ml and adjust)
  • 1 teaspoon fine salt (or to taste)
  • ¼ teaspoon black salt (kala namak, optional but characteristic)
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • Pinch of asafoetida (hing, optional)
  • 8 fresh mint leaves (plus extra for serving)
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander (plus extra for serving)

To serve

  • Plenty of ice cubes
  • Pinch of toasted cumin (held back from the spice prep)
  • A few mint leaves
  • Crack of black pepper

Method

Stage 1 - Toast the cumin

  1. Heat a small dry frying pan over medium heat for 30 seconds.
  2. Add the cumin seeds and toast, shaking the pan, for 45 to 60 seconds until fragrant and a shade darker. Don't let them burn or they'll turn bitter.
  3. Tip onto a cold plate to halt the cooking. Reserve a pinch for garnish.
  4. Crush the rest coarsely in a pestle and mortar.

Stage 2 - Blend

  1. Tip the yogurt, 300 ml of the water, salt, black salt, pepper, asafoetida (if using), most of the crushed cumin, mint leaves and chopped coriander into a blender.
  2. Blend on medium-high for 30 to 45 seconds until smooth and frothy.
  3. Taste and adjust: more salt for a sharper finish, more water if it's too thick to pour.

Stage 3 - Serve

  1. Half-fill four tall glasses with ice cubes.
  2. Pour the lassi over the ice. The foam will rise to the top.
  3. Scatter a pinch of the reserved toasted cumin, a few mint leaves, and a final crack of pepper over each glass.
  4. Serve immediately, ideally alongside something hot and aromatic.

Notes

  • Toast the cumin yourself. This is the one step that lifts a salted lassi above a glass of salted yogurt water. Pre-ground cumin has none of the same warmth.
  • Black salt is worth tracking down. Kala namak adds a faintly sulphurous, mineral note that's classic in north Indian drinks. Standard fine salt works if you can't find it.
  • Taste the yogurt first. Sourer yogurts need slightly less salt; mild ones can take the full teaspoon.
  • Skip the sweet stuff. This is not a drink that benefits from sugar or honey; the brief should be savoury through and through.

Variations

  • Pudina (mint) lassi. Double the mint to 20 leaves and add 1 finely chopped green chilli. Stronger, herbier, more cooling.
  • Masala chaas. Thinner, more buttermilk-like: increase water to 500 ml, add a few curry leaves softened in a teaspoon of oil along with the cumin, and finish with a squeeze of lime.

Storage

  • Best drunk within 30 minutes of blending.
  • Refrigerate up to 24 hours in a sealed jug; whisk briefly before serving and add a splash of cold water to loosen if it has thickened.
  • Don't freeze: the yogurt separates on thawing.