Mango Turmeric Lassi

I spent most of my summers in India, when me and my family would visit my grandparents for summer holidays. Since my hometown - Bhubaneswar holds a record of being one of the hottest cities in India, supplementing normal water with lemonade and lassi was quite the necessity for us those days. Lassi was simple yoghurt, water and sugar combination for me that made up for the loss of water due to excessive sweating.

When I left India, I never felt the need to make lassi for myself as Netherlands blessed me with perennial supply of colder climate, but many of the people I met would first refer to the holy mango lassi when I introduced myself as an Indian. What? Mango lassi? We learnt to eat juicy, ripe mangoes from my village just like that! 4 slices - 2 big, 2 small, and the seed were licked to perfection by us at home! So the concept of mango lassi was something I could never understand initially.

5 years later, I crave for one when summer arrives in the Netherlands - what living as an NRI does to your taste!

Mango lassi in the restaurants can be very sweet, mainly because they tend to use tinned mango pulp. Since I had access to some nicely ripe and juicy mangoes from my nearest farmer's market, I decided to stick to pure flavours. Also, since I rarely get to use the saffron that my father sent to me from home (mainly because I tend to be stingy with it), I decided to use it up. And while we are at it, why not turmeric?! 

Number of servings: 2

Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

1. 2 ripe mangoes
2. 1 1/2 cup Greek yoghurt
3. 1/2 cup whole milk
4. 1 tsp honey
5. 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
6. A few strands of saffron
7. Pounded pistachio for garnish

Method

1. Add the saffron to milk and let it aside for 5 minutes to allow the saffron to release flavours and color into milk
2. Slice and dice the mangoes, and discard the peel and seeds
3. Add all the ingredients except pistachio into a blender jar, and blend to perfection
4. Use serving glasses of choice and add the lassi to them, garnish with some freshly pounded pistachio
5. Cheers!

The recipe can also be made more light by replacing the Greek yoghurt, and whole milk with low fat alternatives. Also, depending on the quality of mangoes, the amount of honey might need calibration. The key is to taste it before serving!