Kesar Badam Lassi| Saffron-Scented Sweetened Curd With Almonds

Best wishes to everyone on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi! Hope all of you had a lovely time celebrating today, complete with loads of festive food and drink, memorable experiences and conversations. I take this opportunity to present to you a recipe for a festival-special drink that will surely win over your family and friends – Kesar Badam Lassi. It is a favourite at our place!

No artificial colours or artificial flavouring agents are used in this Kesar Badam Lassi. I use the gorgeous saffron (kesar) I bought in Kashmir to add a pretty light yellow colour – and a lovely taste – to the drink. The saffron, together with the almonds that go into it, make this lassi a rich confection. It is perfect for serving alongside meals on special occasions or when you have guests over.

This week on Foodie Monday Blog Hop, all of us are sharing #NaturallyColourful recipes, foods coloured entirely using only natural ingredients. This Kesar Badam Lassi is my contribution to the theme. The theme suggestion was made by Mayuri, who has a wonderful repository of Gujarati dishes and vegetarian global cuisine at Mayuri’s Jikoni. Apart from this, I’m also sharing this recipe with Fiesta Friday #292. The co-host this week is Ai @ Ai Made It For You.

Let’s now go through the proceedure for making this naturally coloured and flavoured Kesar Badam Lassi. This is a very simple thing to make, one that takes just a few minutes to put together, but is extremely delicious and hearty. The lassi is completely vegetarian and gluten-free.

Ingredients (serves 2):

1. 1-1/2 cups chilled thick curd
2. 2 tablespoons sugar or to taste
3. 2 tablespoons full fat milk
4. A generous pinch of saffron
5. 6-7 almonds

Method:

1. Heat the milk well in a small vessel. Switch off gas. Add in the saffron strands. Allow the saffron to soak in the hot milk for 15-20 minutes, by which time they would have coloured the milk yellow. Keep aside.

2. Chop up the almonds roughly. Keep aside.

3. Take the curd in a mixer jar. Add in the sugar and the coloured milk, along with the saffron strands in it. Give everything a quick whirr in the mixer, making sure all the ingredients are well integrated with each other.

4. Pour the mixture into 2 serving glasses. Add in the chopped almonds equally in both glasses, using a few slivers for garnishing. Use a few strands of saffron in the garnishing too, if you so wish. Serve immediately.

Notes:

1. Use curd that is thick, for best results. Watery curd doesn’t help make good lassi. Here, I have used Milky Mist curd, which is quite thick.

2. The curd should be only slightly sour. Overly sour curd does not give best results.

3. You may use glace cherries and/or cashewnuts to garnish the lassi too.

4. I have used curd that was chilling in the refrigerator for a few hours, to make this Kesar Badam Lassi. I therefore served it immediately after making, as there was no need to chill it further. If you have curd that isn’t chilled, you can a) chill the curd before using it in making the lassi or b) make the lassi and then chill it before adding in the almonds, garnishing and serving.

5. This Kesar Badam Lassi is rich and delicious, but not as thick as the versions you get in restaurants. If you want to achieve that, add in some store-bought fresh cream or cream collected from milk at home (malai) – make sure you add this after whirring in the mixer, just before serving.

Did you like this recipe? Do tell me, in your comments!