Bonsoir!

On today, the second day of the year 225, the sans-coulottes celebrate saffron. And so shall we! I have decided to make the saffron flavor the focus of this post and highlight it in a traditional lassi. The inspiration for this recipe came from the delightful Made in India by Meera Sodha. I love this book so much I gave it to my husband as a Christmas present on the understanding that I was actually buying it for myself. I have found every recipe I have tried so far to be delicious and simply explained. I have added to her recipe for saffron lassis with some complementary flavors – cardamom and banana. I found the drink to be refreshing and filling. It even inspired my four-year-old to request to make a “banana smoothie” for himself. Enjoy!

Saffron cardamom lassi 

25 sprigs of saffron

2 cups plain greek yogurt

2 cardamom pods, ground up

1 banana

Sugar to taste

Heat two tablespoons of water to just boiling and place in a bowl along with the saffron sprigs. Let them steep for 5 minutes while you ready the rest of the ingredients. Grind the cardamom until very fine – I do not like chunks of cardamom in my dishes. Place the yogurt, cardamom, banana and sugar in the blender and remove the saffron sprigs from the water and place them in the blender as well. Add as much or as a little sugar as you wish. Blend until very smooth. My blender needed a little assistance, so I added about two table spoons of milk to get it going, but water would also be fine. Makes two fairly large glasses of refreshing lassi.