Talk:Mattha

Punjabi Buttermilk: Khatti Lassi

For decades, we had many cows and water buffaloes. My mother, myself, my siblings and our servants would make delicious sweet butter and khatti lassi (Punjabi buttermilk) from yogurt (called curds in India).

We would add crushed ice to yogurt in a wooden pitcher, enough cold water (about 2-3 times the volume of yogurt)and with a wooden mixer with 4 paddles and long handle, about 3 feet tall, with some grooves, and a wooden cover to prevent splashes, we would put a soft rope,about 6-8 feet long and about half an inch in diameter,with two wooden handles at the end, each about 5 inches long, about 1 inch diameter in the center and about half inch at the tapered ends,easily gripped in each hand. Then we would start churning, by pulling with one hand, so that the wrapped rope moved up the shaft of the paddled agitator, and then pulling with the other hand to reverse the rope movement, down the shaft. This caused the paddles to move a few turns back and forth each time. This would have to be done for half an hour to 2 hours, depending upon the quality of yogurt, the temperature as controlled by the addition of ice and water, and of course the vigor (speed) with which the churning was done.

Periodically, we would stop the churning, lift the wooden cover over the pitcher to see if the butter had started floating at the top of the liquid. Churning would then resume until large balls of butter were formed at the top of the liquid. If the volume of butter was not increasing further, the end of the churning needed had reached. The butter was collected with ladles or with the hands. Any liquid that came with the butter would be returned to the pitcher. I loved this sweet, almost white butter, and could eat it as such (Indian mythology says that Lord Krishna loved this type of butter and used to eat it as such), or use it on toast or on Indian bread (roti or prantha). The liquid left behinf had all the nutrients of yogurt, specifically the proteins, the minerals, particularly calcium, essential for building strong bones and teeth, but almost no fat.

Liking katti lassi (buttermilk)is an acquired taste. My father could not enjoy his lunch and dinner without this khatti lassi. He would add a little salt to it to decrease the tartness. He had excellent health, and very strong bones and teeth. He lived until the age of 92, and rarely needed to see a doctor. We used to give milk, and buttermilk to our relatives and my father's friends. Later, we stopped keeping cows and buffaloes. Then, my father's friend, who used to make khatti lassi, would send it to us so that my father could enjoy his meals.

This khatti lassi (buttermilk) can also be used in many Punjabi recipes, e.g. in kadhi (a dish made with gram flour, fried pakoras, salt, turmeric, kadhi leaf (patta), some roasted rye, mustard or other seeds, some green or red peppers, etc.). — Preceding unsigned comment added by Skhungar (talk • contribs) 08:09, 22 January 2017 (UTC)

Assessment

This article is marked for reassessment. It is less than 1000 bytes long, so I say class=stub is correct. I have added food and alternative medicine to the assessments.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 13:56, 13 April 2019 (UTC)