Salted mint lassi - a healthy yogurt Indian drink for the summer

Lassi is very popular drink in India - especially in summer time. This has originated from Punjab and well adopted in other regions as well. There are mainly 3 versions of this drink - sweet, salty and most popular one is Mango Lassi. You can find my recipe for Mango lassi here and that of plain and sweet one in here. Even my family and I like mango lassi but salted lassi is most healthy of the three. It has its cooling effect like other form of lassi – in addition it aids digestion by generating good bacteria in gastronomical tract. It also re-hydrate people in hot Indian summer. The best part of this preparation is that it has mainly 4 ingredients and it is super easy and super quick well-suited for today’s busy women. Let’s get on with the recipe:-

Preparation Time: - 5 min

Cooking Time: - 10 min 

Servings: - 2~3 persons (depends upon individual capacity)

Ingredients:-

1. 2 cup Yogurt / Curd
2. ¼ cup Mint (Pudina) leaves
3. 1 tsp Ginger Juice
4. ½ tsp Black salt (optional)
5. ¼ tsp Salt
6. 1 tsp Roasted Jeera / Cumin seeds powder
7. A few ice cubes
8. Few Pudina leaves for Garnishing

Preparation:-

1. Take 2 cup of fresh chilled curd. It is good to use full fat milk to prepare curd at home for Lassi purpose. Yogurt is thicker than curd and so it is useful for lassi but homemade curd/dahi is best. You can buy ready-made curd/ yogurt as well.
2. Make Ginger juice by grating about 1 inch long ginger and squeeze the pulp in your fingers.
3. You can use ready-made roasted jeera / cumin seeds powder but it is always better to roast the cumin seeds in home. The aroma is superb. Take a heavy skillet (tawa) and toss the cumin seeds on it. Roast just until the aroma comes out. Do not burn the seeds. The color should be brown, not black. If you do not have cumin seeds you can take 8~10 corns of black paper and thrash them in mortar and pestle. This is a workaround but roasted cumin seeds is the best for salted lassi.
4. In a blender first add the mint leaves and 2 tbsp of yogurt / curd. Make a smooth paste.
   
5. Then add the black salt, normal salt, roasted cumin seeds powder, curd and ice cubes. Please note you can use black salt only instead of a mixture of black salt and normal salt. In that case you need 1 tsp of black salt as it is not very salty. If you use mixture of both the salts then use as described in ingredients section.
   
6. Blend again for ½ min or till the mixture is smooth. You may add a little water as needed. Please remember that the lassi should not be frothy.
7. Garnish with few mint leaves and pinch of cumin seeds powder.
   

Transfer to a pitcher or you can keep it in refrigerator to drink later. I would recommend to drink within a day of preparing. Serve this yummy healthy drinks at the end of a meal or just drink alone to refresh yourself in summer days. 

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As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.