Spiced Buttermilk

Come summer, & Iam reminded of spiced buttermilk stored in huge earthen pots back at my grand mother's place. Though, packaged buttermilk has replaced home made ones in a big way, there is something special about these home made ones stored in earthen pots that cannot be replicated.

Spiced Buttermilk, known as Masala Majjige in Kannada, Masala Mor in Tamil, Sambharam in Malayalam, Majjiga in Telugu or simply Chaas in Hindi is a great drink to beat the heat. Its many benefits is super healthier than colas & Yes, it makes a great drink any time of the day & a very refreshing one at that.

With the foray of refrigerators, the age old tradition of storing water, buttermilk in earthen pots has long dissappeared. I saw an old earthen pot lying around at home & I was tempted to make some lovely spiced buttermilk to cool my head.

Iam so glad that I stored it in the earthen pot, because It did acquire that special taste & Yes, it was a much better option than the colas.

Iam kinda tempted to do some serious cooking using these pots. Remember the heavenly taste of Handi Biryani ?? I'll begin with cooking some plain rice, maybe.

If you guys have any hands on experience with cooking in an earthen pot, share them with me.

Meanwhile, here's some lovely spiced buttermilk for the scorching summer.

You Will Need:

• 1 cup Buttermilk - Made from 4 parts water & 1 part yogurt
• 2 dry red chillies - Broken ( I used Byadagi)
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 tsp crushed cumin seeds
• A pinch of Asafoetida/Hing
• A handful of Curry leaves
• Salt as per taste

Method:

1. Mix together all the ingredients mentioned above.
2. Adjust salt as per taste & Mix well
3. Serve Cold
4. You could even chill it in earthrn pots for that added taste.

Enjoi !!!

NOTE: You could even use green chillies instead of red chillies for a slightly different taste.