If anyone knows how to deal with heat when it comes to food, it's the Indians. I have never been to India myself, but I have been to the Hindu island of Bali, where I got to know and love the refreshing drink of India – it is called Lassi (almost like the dog). Lassi is inexpensive, very easy to make and tastes good here in the overly hot summers of this late period. Basically, it's little more than yoghurt and iced water - with varying amounts of fruit or spices; depending on your taste. The range of variants is as extensive as with ice cream.
I'll briefly describe a salty lassi here, just to show how easy and quick lassi is to prepare. Which, by the way, makes it better for afternoon refreshments than factory-bought by volume and in plastic cans that are full of air and contain synthetic flavors, colors and sugars, not to mention stabilizers. Also, Greek natural yoghurt is no more difficult to keep in the fridge than industrial ice cream in the freezer. So here's the lassi, salty:
Mix 500 ml fridge-cold Greek yoghurt (plain) with 800 ml ice water, 1 tsp cumin (roasted and crushed), a few turns of black pepper and 1 tsp salt, serve et voilà.
Oh that's it?
Yes, that's it.
And should that taste good?
And how that tastes!
Sip, sip, sip... Indeed, delicious!
see.
Regarding cumin: If possible, Indian cuisine does not use pre-ground spices, but uses the whole product, which it briefly roasts before use and then grinds in a mortar. This seems annoying, but it's quick and worth it, because the flavors are immensely intensified; I'm guessing by liquefying the essential oils.
And how to mix the lassi? Best in the mixing attachment of the food processor, in the blender or in the Thermomix (if you have one). Of course, the blender or chopper is enough, but if you have a stand mixer, you can also add some of the ice water in the form of whole cubes, which will keep the drink cold longer.
For a sweet version, 500 ml fridge-cold Greek yoghurt (plain) with 2 tbsp sugar, ½ tsp ground green cardamom seed (take only the blackest possible seeds from the pods that are as green as possible; faded goods are not good), 1 tsp rose water or orange blossom water, 1 small packet Mix the saffron powder and 800 ml of ice water and serve.
And finally Lassi, spicy:
Mix together ½ tsp ginger powder, ½ tsp cumin powder (if you don't have time to toast and grind), ¼ tsp black pepper and ½ tsp salt. De-seed and finely chop 2 green chillies.
Reserve some cilantro and a few mint leaves and possibly a few unsprayed rose petals. Dry toast 1 tbsp blanched almonds and 1 tbsp pistachio nuts in a pan over medium heat for 2-3 minutes and then roughly chop.
Mix 500 ml fridge-cold Greek yoghurt (natural) with 250 ml ice water and the spices, fill into tall glasses and serve sprinkled with the roasted almonds and pistachios and the fragrant green and red, roughly chopped leaves.
Yoghurt seems to have been invented or at least spread by the once nomadic Turkic people, which is why there are also yoghurt-based soft drinks in Turkish cuisine. This includes Ayran. Anyone who goes to a Turkish grill (like the very good Köz Ocakbasi, Steindamm 6, Hamburg) would do well to drink ice-cold Ayran with lamb chops or kofte – wonderful stuff. You can buy it ready-made in Turkish grocery stores. However, if you look around in the literature, it is nothing more than lassi, only industrially produced and served with dried mint.
Turkish cuisine knows cacik, actually a side dish for rice dishes, meat and filled dumplings. Peel 1 young garlic clove and crush it with a wide knife blade on the work surface together with ½ teaspoon salt to a pulp. 2 small cucumber quarters, cut out the slimy core area, then grate the unpeeled fruit. Chop 2-3 sprigs of dill. Mix 500 g Greek yoghurt with Knofimatsch, grated cucumber, dill, 1 tsp dried mint, some lemon juice and zest and some salt and then chill.
Diluted with ice water, cacik is often eaten as a refreshing summer soup.
I've always had no idea how you could drink the stuff that's sold as iced tea in stores in brightly colored tetrapacks. Whenever it was served to me, it was underlyingly bitter and oversweetened with a layer of makeup sugar on it. Iced tea, on the other hand, tastes like:
Brew good black leaf tea and let it steep for a maximum of 3 minutes (calculate 2 g of tea in 150 ml of water), strain and leave to cool, ideally overnight in the fridge. Have plenty of ice cubes; as a weirdo, I make mine out of quiet Fachinger. Season the tea with lemon juice and maple syrup. Fill a large glass with as many ice cubes as possible and only pour cold tea over it when serving. If necessary, add mint leaves or lemon balm leaves.
