Pouring for my guests.
Every girls night needs a signature drink, right? Instead of opting for a boozy beverage I decided to take a twist on the traditional Mango Lassi and “vegan-ize” it. Lassi is a common beverage enjoyed in most parts of India. It isn’t always flavoured; in fact, my favorite type of lassi is actually “plain”! It’s perfect on hot days when you need something to quench your thirst and keep you cool. For those of you (myself included) who love dairy milk, you can easily swap out the ingredients as you wish! My girlfriends Courtney (The Fig Tree) and Chantal (Nutty 4 Nutrition) don’t do so well with cow’s milk so I was more than happy to accommodate their restrictions. And guess what? Everyone loved it!
The ingredient list as you’ll see is minimal and perhaps the most important ingredient of all is yogurt. When you peruse through other lassi recipes you’ll notice they almost all contain yogurt which helps to impart the slightly sour taste that you can’t help but love.
As far as spices go, you can be as adventurous (or not) as you want to be. I love using similar spices as I would in my chai (tea) so I tend to stick with cardamom, cinnamon and cloves. I also added some saffron which is a commonly used spice among many Indian dishes. Because it can be difficult to come by and also extremely expensive I only used a small sliver for each serving.
You can slurp on this beverage as part of a healthy breakfast, post workout nutrition or simply offer it up to your guests at any time and for any occasion. Heck, serve it as a liquid dessert (that’s a great idea).
Happy sippin’ folks…and now, the recipe:
- 2 cups frozen mango, cubed
- 2 cups soy yogurt, plain
- 1 cup soy milk
- ¼ - ½ cup water
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- Agave nectar (or honey) to taste *optional
- Ice cubes
- Saffron, for garnish
- In a high speed blender (or large food processor) puree the mango until it is in liquid consistency.
- Add in yogurt, milk and spices. Blend for 45 seconds.
- Next, depending on how thin or thick you want your lassi, add in water. Be careful! Just add a little at a time until you reach your desired consistency.
- Pour lassi into glasses, add in ice cubes and one sliver of saffron to each glass.
- Serve and enjoy!
Before you leave, check out this fun stop motion video about the girls night in I hosted, trust me you, you’re going to want to see it! It’s pretty darn cute if I don’t say so myself!
– With Love, Carrots and Cake,
