The Perfect Mango Lassi

I love indian food. I didn't discover it until moving out of my small town to go away to college in the diverse city of Ann Arbor. A friend asked if I wanted to join her for lunch and I've loved indian food ever since! My parents had also never had it and it is now one of their favorites as well - imagine finding one of your favorite foods when you're in your 50s!

Anyhoo, I have a few friends - from college and work - who have kindly offered up their expertise and family recipes to help my mother and I create our favorite dishes at home. A few years ago, we stocked up on a bunch of indian spices - Garam Masala, Tandoori Masala, Methi, Tumeric, Madras Curry Powder, etc. We tried a few recipes and - they were good - but those Indian restaurants sure do have an assortment of wonderful dishes so that was always our favorite.

Recently, a coworker brought in some of her home-cooked recipes including one of our favorites, Butter Chicken. It was awesome, better than any restaurant, and thankfully she was extremely open about sharing recipes. I ended up planning a big "indian cooking day" with my mom while The Husband was out of town, and I wanted to go "all out" and make and buy as much as we could. More on the other recipes later, but I do want to share the perfect Mango Lassi recipe.


This one, I actually found on Food Network, but no worry - all the recipes are generally the same: Mangoes, Yogurt, sugar... however this particular recipe said "try with cardamom or salt" .. the salt I didn't try but the cardamom piqued my interest. I never had any in my spice cabinet, but I always enjoyed Turkish Coffee or middle eastern treats that featured the cardamom flavor.

Lucky for me, this is prime time mango season so please go out and buy fresh mangoes now before it ends in a few weeks. I went to Nino Salvaggio's and they had an assortment of varieties and I purchased 4 green-and-red soft managoes that I could tell were perfectly ripe.


The Food Network recipe was a little different (had more exact measurements), but the main idea is that it is basically equal parts mango and yogurt. The real kicker is the cardamom, which really makes this the best mango lassi ever. Cardamom is expensive, but I hope to use my $9 jar of it in some other tasty treats in the future. My parents and I all agreed that we would take this delicious healthy drink over any greasy or sugar-laden dessert any day. It was just awesome.


The Perfect Mango Lassi
Serves 3-4

4 cups of peeled, pitted, sliced fresh ripe mangoes
4 cups of plain yogurt (not vanilla)
12 packets of splenda (I left sugar out since Splenda works so well with cold / fruit recipes... )
1/4 tsp cardamom
Optional: 12 ice cubes (will make it a cold smoothie - good choice!)
4 mint leaves for garnish

In a blender, combine all ingredients and blend until a smooth consistency like a smoothie. Add water if your consistency is too thick (ice helps). Serve in glasses with a sprig of mint. Mint and mango is such a tasty combination.. it's not just for looks!