Quick mango lassi
Oh so much Indian food being discussed in the catbox! This is a little easier to do at the drop of a hat than leighton's recipe as it doesn't contain fresh mangoes. Much as I adore fresh mangoes, this is a lot less messy.
Ingredients:
- high quality mango nectar
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high quality plain whole milk yogurt, I like Stoneyfield Farms Organic the best as the creamy sweet/tart of the yogurt just shines through the finished product.
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honey or sugar
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optional: ground cardamom (in Indian cooking, known as elachi), rosewater or sweetened rosewater syrup
Place about 2 parts mango nectar to one part yogurt in a vessel, a small pitcher works well depending on how many servings you are making. Add honey or sugar to taste, I use between 1 and 3 teaspoons for a single serving, and stir briskly to combine. Thin or thicken to taste with more mango nectar or yogurt. Top with a dash of cardamom and/or rosewater and then pour over a tall glass of ice to serve.
Personally, I like my yogurt to be very tangy for this. Not offensively sour, but with more character than most US yogurts that pander to timid palates. If you start with a high quality, active culture yogurt, this is easy enough to make happen. Simply leave your yogurt out overnight at room temperature. The live cultures will perk up and start doing their thing, resulting in a wonderfully assertive flavor. It's like sourdough, happy bacteria leads to happy yogurt.
Oh, and, don't bother to refrigerate it prior to mixing up the lassi. The sugar or honey will mix in more readily if the yogurt isn't cold.