Mango Lassi

Mango Lassi is a popular drink in India where the climate is frequently sweltering. The yogurt-based drink makes a great treat on a hot day and is perfect for cooling down those spicy Indian curries. My understanding is that traditional lassi is actually a savory drink, made by blending plain yogurt with water, salt, and spices like cumin or mint. I’ve only ever had sweet lassi which is made by blending yogurt with sugar, fruit, and sometimes rosewater. My favorite is mango lassi, though you could use other fruit if you like.

Mango Lassi is so refreshing and addictive. It’s also very easy to make. The hardest part is getting your hands on some good mangoes like the ones from the Philippines. They’re thin-skinned and juicy and very sweet, unlike the fibrous ones that come from South America. Alphonso mangoes are a good choice and can be found more easily in the U.S., especially in Asian food stores.

MANGO LASSI

• 2 cups mango puree (3 to 5 mangoes, depending on how big they are)
• 6 ice cubes
• 2 cups plain yogurt (not Greek yogurt – it’s too thick)
• ¼ cup sugar (omit if mangoes are very sweet)
• pinch of cardamom powder
• mint leaves and extra mango cut into cubes, for garnish (optional)

1. Peel mango and cut into pieces.
2. Put mango in blender and puree until smooth.
3. Add ice cubes, yogurt, sugar, and pinch of cardamom, and blend all together well.
4. If it seems too thick to drink, add a little water to thin it out to the consistency you want.
5. Garnish with a mint leaf and 2 or 3 little cubes of mango, if desired.

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Yogurt Cream and Berry Parfaits

Yesterday was the 4th of July. We went over to my sister Helen’s house for a barbecue. My aunt Miriam and her beau were coming over, as well as my uncle Manny, his lovely wife Melissa, and their two beautiful daughters, Sierra and Aspen. We hadn’t seen them in years so we were all looking forward to the festivities. Manny’s my uncle but he’s younger than I am. His sister, Miriam, is my age. How, you ask? Well, my grandfather was married three times and had a total of 13 children. My Mom was child #2 by his first wife. Manny and Miriam are children #11 and 12 by his third wife. Hence the huge generation gap, and that explains why I have an aunt and uncle my age and younger.

Anyway, I wanted to make something red-white-and-blue to take to the barbecue for dessert so decided that yogurt cream parfaits would be good. They’re refreshingly cool on a hot summer day. I put them in mini champagne flutes and thought they looked absolutely adorable.

I whipped up 30 of the little confections the day before the barbecue and had them chilling in the fridge all neatly lined up on a wooden tray like patriotic little soldiers. When we were finally ready to leave for Helen’s house the next day, I painstakingly pulled the tray out of the fridge and walked ever so slowly towards the front door, carefully balancing the tray in my two hands. I have no idea how but to my utter distress, right when I reached the door, one of the little flutes began to teeter precariously on the tray. I watched in horror as almost in slow motion, it toppled over and hit the one next to it and one by one they all began toppling over like dominoes! I screamed as I juggled the tray in a futile effort to stop the disaster which only served to make matters worse! Some of the desserts crashed to the floor while others flung their contents onto my chest and down to my feet. Nooooooo!!!

Old Goat comes running over and sees me standing there in the middle of a huge mess of red, white and blue, with yogurt cream splashed on my nose and running down my pretty blue blouse. “What are you doing?” he asked perplexed as he took the tray from my stunned hands. I took one look at him and burst into tears as I ran upstairs to our bedroom. All my hard work of the day before, gone in about 5 seconds!

I washed up and changed my shirt, then went back downstairs to find that my sweet Old Goat had mopped up the floor, and with the help of No. 1’s girlfriend, was trying to salvage and wipe clean the flutes that had just tipped over but remained safely on the tray. So, long story short, they managed to rescue about a dozen of the 30 desserts. They looked a little worse for wear, but we brought them to Helen’s house anyway.

YOGURT CREAM & BERRY PARFAITS

• 1 cup plain, honey, or vanilla greek yogurt
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 3 tbsp. or ¼ cup sugar
• strawberries, washed, dried and hulled
• blueberries, washed and dried
• extra sugar (optional)

1. Chop strawberries into small pieces. If strawberries aren’t sweet, sprinkle a little extra sugar over them, toss together and set aside.
2. Place greek yogurt and whipping cream in bowl of electric mixer.
3. Beat until soft peaks form.
4. Add sugar and beat until well combined.
5. In little flutes or parfait glasses, layer yogurt cream, strawberries, more yogurt cream, blueberries, and end with yogurt cream.
6. Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

NOTE:  If desired, you can garnish the top of each parfait with a blueberry, a small strawberry, some finely chopped almonds, or a sprinkling of granola.

Yogurt Cake

I’ve been making this cake for years. It’s so good and easy to prepare. It always turns out moist and flavorful. I also love its versatility. If you don’t have margarine or butter, you could substitute butter-flavored Crisco shortening, or even use cooking oil if you’re really desperate. You could bake it in a loaf pan instead of a bundt pan if you want a more traditional “butter cake” look. I like to make small loaves of this cake (as pictured below) to give to my neighbors during the holidays.

You could also exchange the flavorings and use lemon extract and lemon yogurt to make a delicious lemon cake that goes great with a nice cup of hot tea. Hmmm……. I wonder….. what if we tried orange extract and orange yogurt, or strawberry extract and strawberry yogurt, or almond extract and plain yogurt?….. The possibilities are endless, don’t you think?

YOGURT CAKE

• 1 cup margarine or butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2¼ cups all purpose flour
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 8-oz. container vanilla yogurt

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla extract.
5. Alternately beat in flour mixture and yogurt until just incorporated. Do not over mix. It’s okay if batter is still lumpy.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 55-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
7. Allow to cool 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
8. Carefully flip cake over and let cool completely.