Occasionally, some kitchen fiascoes
turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Just like this Beet Lassi. I was terribly upset with myself when I forgot to keep my home made yogurt in the refrigerator once it was set. Freshly made yogurt takes no more than two and half to three hours to set (in the Mumbai climate) and here I was…It took me over six hours to realize the blunder and by that time the whole batch of curd had turned sour.I thought of ways where I could use my huge batch of sour yogurt. I thought of making Pakoda Kadhi but I realized the curd was too sour and after putting in huge effort I was most likely not going to get desired results. To put the sour curd to good use, I used 3/4th of the batch and let the water from the curd drain over a cheese cloth and made my favorite chocolate cake from part of it. And from the left over drained curd I made a sour curd dressing to go with potato salad. Yet I still had some left from the batch of sour yogurt. I also learnt one very valuable lesson. Make small batches of yogurt coz it is not easy to spend a huge batch of sour yogurt!I remembered having seen many food bloggers making beet raita although I have not tried it even once. Why not beet lassi I thought. Beets are sweet, curd is super sour and the pairing should work since there would be a balance of flavors and if I thrown in some masala it should probably work well. For my beet salad, earlier, I had boiled the beets but having seen a trend in roasting veggies and fruits for using in salads, soups, cakes, cookies and smoothies and even ice-creams, I thought of roasting the beet for the lassi. The result was beets with superior and a sweet enhanced flavor than when boiled. You know what? From now on, I will use more of roasted veggies in my cooking and baking J I am loving it!
Oh! I didn’t say what lassi is! For those who are new to this lingo, lassi is a blend of yogurt and water. It may be in a sweet or savory avatar. These days you will find a lot of variations. Some people, instead of water, like to add fruit pulp or puréed veggies to have flavoured lassi and it also helps take the health quotient of lassi a few notches up. But the basic one will have beaten curd plus water to which salt, black pepper powder, dry powdered mint and roasted cumin is added. The sweet one uses sugar or palm sugar/ fruits.
1 inch piece Ginger (grated)¼ C Mint
1½ tsp Cumin (roasted and coarsely ground)¼ tsp Black Pepper (powder)
½ tsp dried mint powder
½ tsp garam masala (mine is mild)¾ - 1 tsp SumacLots of ice
Mix together and place in a shallow dish1½ tsp Sumac1 tsp Sugar1 pinch Black Salt
Wash and scrub the beets well, Place the beets on individual foils and close the top of the foil by pinching it. Place the foil encased beets in a 200 degree C oven and roast for approx 50-60 minutes or till done. When cool, peel the beets (Beets bleed color and you need to be careful as it leaves stains on clothes)Chop the beets and blitz them. Add mint, ginger and yogurt and blitz again.Add water and blitz one last time. Adjust the amount of water and yogurt Sieve the beet mint yogurt mix (optional). Adjust the amount of water.Add salt, black pepper, garam masala, sumac and cumin. Adjust the amount of spices.
For serving, moisten the rim of the glasses in which you intend to serve the lassi with water. Over turn the glass in the sumac, sugar and black salt mix ensuring that the rim takes on as much mix as possible. Pour the lassi into glasses and serve topped with ice.Garnish with mint leaves.
Note: The amount of yogurt and water will be determined by the size of the beet and of course personal taste.Note: I strongly recommend using the sumac, sugar, black salt (on the rim of the glasses) as it gives a nice tangy flavor and a beautiful rounded taste. Note: I had used sour yogurt so it helped balance the sweetness of beets. For regular yogurt and beet lassi use lemon juice to balance the sweet sour flavor. Serves 3-4Thanks for visiting & see you again! IT IS ALWAYS ENCOURAGING TO HEAR FROM FRIENDS AND READERS. I CAN ALSO BE REACHED AT: [email protected]
