Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Green Buttermilk

In this 115 degree F heat, nothing really helps as much as cold liquids - in any form - be it refreshments or baths or pools or just cold water splashed on your face. Chennai is so HOT that clothes left out to dry will be done in a matter of an hour anytime between the hours of 10am and 4 pm! I mean, its enough to cook an egg on your balcony on the bare floor. Okay, I can go on forever. What I meant to do was give you a recipe that I made for myself today which was oh-so-delicious!



Just grind together a couple green chillies, curry leaves and about 3/4 cup of chopped cilantro, along with a cup of water. Then add 1 cup yogurt and 2 cups buttermilk (or you can add 2 cups yogurt and add extra water), 1 tsp sugar, 1.5 tsp salt, a little piece of ginger and about 3 cups of water. Blend until it is frothy.

Chill in the refrigerator and drink! Delicious!

9 comments:

Raaga said...

I make this... a lot actually. But I don't grind everything... I will try this for sure. Weekend green buttermilk with brown-ies :)

Arundathi said...

y'know maybe it'll be better not all ground up. will try that. but this was so fantastic for the chennai heat...

Anonymous said...

The buttermilk does sound tasty and very refreshing in the heat. However, 115 degree Fahrenheit seems a little exaggerated... That's around 46 degrees C which to my knowledge Chennai has never seen.

N said...

hi there, this has nothing to do with buttermilk, but i thought you might be able to help. any idea where to get good cheese in chennai? i'm talking about the non-processed non-amul slices kind of cheese. i'm american but i live in chennai now and as much as i love idli and dosa, sometimes i need some home food, you know? so any tips you might have, just send them my way:) thanks!

Arundathi said...

@ Anonymous: Actually the temperatures on May 20th 2007 was 45 degrees Celsius or 113 degrees Fahrenheit. So, yes, I stand corrected, Chennai wasn't at 46 degrees, but 45.

@ Nivedita: I know exactly what you are talking about. I'd love to have some good Pecorino! But I've found some really excellent cheese at Maison de Gourmet which I've also posted about in my other blog http://arundathi-rediscovery.blogspot.com/2006/09/i-was-introduced-to-most-addictive-site.html

N said...

thanks for the tip! my other big handicap is the fact that i live in a hostel after living in an apartment back in the states. seems like a giant step back for me, but with a refrigerator, microwave/conventional oven, kettle and rice cooker that i already own and the hot plate that i plan to acquire as soon as exams are over, i'm hoping that my creativity and experimentation will salvage my sanity and my health soon:) so if you ever have any tips on how to cook with ingredients that i'd find here, without a kitchen (ha), please share! thanks so much:)

Arundathi said...

Nivedita - there's tons of precooked foods in the market now (try Kitchens of India brand for example), that just need to be heated up in the microwave. And at Amma Naana, you can get lots of frozen non-indian foods as well - not very nutritious but very tasty! I would research recipe sites that call for non-Indian microwave cooking. If I come across any, I'll keep you posted. Cheers!

Sugarcraft India said...

Hi Arundathi
I make a similar kind of buttermilk but cilantro not being availabe easily in indian markets I use coriander leaves and some roasted cumin seeds(jeera pdr). Well its actually been many days since I made this and reading yours refreshed my memory!!

Swati
http://sugarcraftindia.blogspot.com

KonkaniBlogger said...

Hi Arundathi,

That buttermilk looks really refreshing.