Choose and prepare an attributed sweet or salted lassi

Lassi is a chilled, non-alcoholic yogurt drink. You can make it sweet, with sugar and often cardamom, or salted, with salt and spices such as roasted cumin. This guide covers three published home versions and attributes each to its cook. Each recipe uses its own yogurt amount, liquid, seasoning and serving method, so the main rule is to follow one recipe from start to finish. Don't mix quantities between them.

What each lassi produces and when to choose it

Each version below turns plain yogurt into a drink. You either blend it with liquid and seasoning, or whisk it by hand, and serve it cold. Choose by flavor and by the equipment you have.

• Choose Kiran's version for a sweet lassi with measured milk, water and sugar.
• Choose Swasthi's version for a salted lassi with measured salt and cumin that needs no blender.
• Choose Nish Kitchen's version for a thick, mint-flavored salted lassi with no added liquid.

Before you start: record your chosen recipe

Illustrative example: write down the yogurt type, milk, water, sweetener or salt, seasonings, where the ice goes and the mixing method for the recipe you picked. Then check your ingredients against that list only. Different yogurts and liquids aren't automatically interchangeable. For example, Kiran specifies whole-milk yogurt with both milk and water, while Nish Kitchen's version adds no liquid at all. Moving one recipe's liquid into another changes the result in ways none of these cooks describes.

How to make Kiran's sweet lassi

• Ingredients: 2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt, 1/2 cup chilled milk, 1/2 cup chilled water, 4 tbsp sugar, and optionally the crushed seeds of 2 cardamom pods.
• For serving: 1 cup ice cubes. Chopped pistachios and almonds are optional garnishes.
• Equipment: a blender and serving glasses.

• 1. Crush the cardamom seeds if you are using them.
• 2. Put the yogurt, chilled milk, chilled water, sugar and cardamom in the blender.
• 3. Blend until the mixture is smooth and frothy.
• 4. Divide the ice cubes among the serving glasses.
• 5. Pour the lassi over the ice.
• 6. Top with chopped pistachios and almonds if you like.

When to change course: Kiran advises against blending the ice into the drink unless your blender has an ice-crushing feature. If it doesn't, keep the ice in the glasses. These quantities are Kiran's own version, not a universal ratio for lassi.

How to make Swasthi's salted lassi

• Ingredients: 2 cups chilled plain yogurt, 1/2 tsp black salt or Himalayan salt, 1/2 to 1 tsp roasted cumin powder, and 1/2 to 1 cup chilled water.
• Equipment: a bowl, a whisk, a dry pan for roasting cumin, and a grinder.

Prepare the roasted cumin first. Dry-roast cumin seeds over low heat until they smell aromatic. Let them cool completely, then grind them.

• 1. Whisk the chilled yogurt until smooth.
• 2. Add the salt and roasted cumin powder.
• 3. Add the chilled water and whisk until the lassi is frothy.

Swasthi gives ranges for the cumin and the water, so you choose where to land within them. Swasthi also publishes a separate sweet lassi made with sugar and cardamom, with optional rosewater or saffron, plus a mint masala variation. These are different recipes. Don't add sugar or rosewater to the salted method above. If you want a measured sweet lassi, use Kiran's recipe.

How to make Nish Kitchen's mint salted lassi

• Ingredients: 1 cup yogurt, 8 mint leaves, salt to taste, and a pinch of ground cumin or chaat masala to finish.
• For serving: ice.
• Equipment: a blender and glasses.

• 1. Blend the yogurt with the mint leaves and salt.
• 2. Pour the blended lassi over ice.
• 3. Finish with a pinch of ground cumin or chaat masala.

This recipe lists no milk or water. Making it as written gives the yogurt-only version. If you want a thinner, measured salted lassi, switch to Swasthi's recipe rather than borrowing its water amount.

How to tell when your lassi is ready

• Blended sweet lassi (Kiran): the mixture should look smooth and frothy before you pour it.
• Whisked salted lassi (Swasthi): the yogurt should be smooth before the salt and cumin go in, and the finished drink should be frothy after you whisk in the water.
• Roasted cumin (Swasthi): the seeds are done when they turn aromatic over low heat. Cool them completely before grinding.
• Ice: in Kiran's and Nish Kitchen's versions, the lassi goes over ice in the glass, not blended with it.