This is not a drink you lift and swallow. Banarasi lassi is set curd whipped until it holds, spooned into an unglazed clay kulhad, and then buried under malai and often a layer of rabri, with crushed pistachio and a dusting of cardamom over the top — thick enough that it is handed over with a spoon and eaten standing at the counter. The clay matters: the unfired cup pulls moisture out through its wall as you eat, so the last spoonful is denser than the first, and the whole thing tastes faintly of wet earth. The shops sit in Vishwanath Gali and around Godowlia, minutes from the temple, and they are busiest in the hour after darshan. The Punjabi lassi that most people outside India have met is a pourable sweet drink; this is a different object with the same name, and the difference is worth stating before anyone reaches for a straw.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 kg thick set curd or full-fat Greek yoghurt
- 100 g icing sugar
- ½ tsp ground green cardamom
- a generous pinch of saffron
- 300 ml whole milk (for the rabri)
- 2 tbsp caster sugar (for the rabri)
- 4 tbsp clotted cream or malai
- 3 tbsp slivered pistachios
- 1 tbsp slivered almonds
METHOD
- Line a sieve with muslin, tip in the curd, and leave it to drain over a bowl in the fridge for an hour. Discard the whey.
- For the rabri, simmer the milk in a wide pan over low heat, pushing the skin that forms to the side of the pan each time, until it has reduced to about a third and is thick and layered. Stir in the caster sugar and cool.
- Steep the saffron in a tablespoon of warm milk for ten minutes.
- Whip the drained curd with the icing sugar, cardamom and saffron milk until smooth and thick. Keep it cold and do not add liquid.
- Spoon into unglazed clay kulhads, filling them three-quarters full.
- Spread a layer of the cooled rabri over each.
- Top with a spoonful of clotted cream.
- Scatter with pistachios and almonds and a final pinch of cardamom.
- Serve immediately, with a spoon.
