Lassi or a sweet yoghurt drink! Most refreshing beverage to beat the summer heat!

A drink of sweet cold yoghurt drink is really refreshing in summer’s but I actually don’t mind having a nice cold beverage in winter’s even. Lassi (sweet yoghurt drink) is a part of a lunch in Punjab. In the summer season, on hot day’s it can be seen that a lot of people every where around in North India are having this drink during the lunch hour, original lassi is a simple yoghurt cold beverage, where yoghurt with sugar & water are blended together, but lassi comes also in many different flavors now like mango, strawberry, banana etc.

All of my childhood I saw my mom making this Basil Lassi when ever there was a religious ceremony or some puja performed in our home, calling it charnamrit. I could never get bored of this drink so I started making this very healthy drink even without any occasion. Its a healthy drink as basil has medicinal values too.

Its made with yoghurt, sugar & water blended together, it has chopped basil, lotus seeds & nuts added to it  to give it a very distinct and delicious flavor.

Step-by-Step Easy & Quick Recipe –

Prep Time           Cook Time                  Total Time                   Yields

10 mins                    10 mins                     20 mins                     1-2 Serving

Ingredients:

Fresh Curd -1 Cup

Sugar        -1 cup

Finely grated dry coconut       -1/4 cup

Almonds & cashews & pistachio cut into small pieces -5 each

Water                         -1 Cup

Green cardamom ground -1 teaspoon

Indian Basil leaves (tulsi patta)            -10-15

Honey -1 teaspoon

Lotus seeds (makhane) – 1 teaspoon

Buchanania Lanzan (Chironji) – 1 tablespoon

Instruction:

• Blend curd, sugar and water together in a blender.
• Transfer in a deep bowl. Add cardamom powder, lotus seeds, nuts & basil leaves (broken with hand or roughly chopped), honey and mix.
• Sweet Basil Drink or Tulsi Lassi or Basil Lassi is ready to serve. Garnish with tulsi leaves n nuts.

Note: If curd is sour, you can add some milk and ground sugar to neutralize the sourness of the curd.

Happy Cooking!!

Recipe by Karuna Saraswat