For the last couple of weeks there has been a doozie of a cold doing the rounds in Shetland. It’s one of these epic seasonal bugs that starts off with the sniffles and rapidly turns into weeks of the gross, unshakable cold-induced misery. I think everyone here has had it and -after smuggly gloating to Buddy that I believed that my yogurt addiction had given me super-immunity- we all got it too. It was time to bring out the big-guns of immune boosting stuffs. The time had come for carrot mango turmeric lassi.
Mango and yogurt is one of my all time favourite combinations. I have long been an unrepentant yogurt fanatic, and one of my go-to breakfasts is yogurt with mango, ground almond and honey blended into it (if you’ve never tried it, I highly suggest it, it’s a seriously delicious start to the day and is loaded with protein and healthy fats so keeps you going for ages). Of course, the inspiration for that breakfast came directly from the creamy loveliness of the mango lassi.
Lassi is a yogurt based drink originating in India. There are loads of different variations and flavours, some salted and others sweet, with the mango version rapidly gaining in popularity world wide.
I make them quite a lot if there are decent mangoes available at our shop, normally in a pretty traditional manner by blitzing mango with some yogurt and a bit of water. In recent months though my love of turmeric has turned into a bit of an obsession (I have turmeric milk almost daily… delicious) seeing me throwing it in any thing that it could feasibly work in. So it was just a matter of time before I started spicing the lassi with it. Then in an attempt to work more veg into my diet it dawned on me that carrot might work well in this drink too. And so the carrot mango turmeric lassi was born!
I often make this drink with milk now instead of water for the added protein, and because it gives it an even creamier texture, and I use steamed carrot as cooking the veg in this manner makes the nutrients more easily absorbed. Both carrot and mango are loaded with carotenoids,and B, C, and A vitamins, which when combined with the protein and probiotic powers of yogurt, the anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric, and the naturally healing nature of honey, will super charge your immune system.
As for the flavour, as weird as the combination might initially sound, it work really really well. It basically tastes like creamy sweet mango but has a slight earthy hint from the turmeric and sweet carrot.
All in all, I really can’t picture a more delicious way to wollop that cold quickly than with carrot mango turmeric lassi!
- 1 medium carrot, peeled, chopped and steamed until soft, and cooled
- 1 mango, peeled and with the stone removed
- 120g or 1/2 cup yogurt
- 1 Tbsp runny honey
- 60mL or 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- Place the carrot, mango and a splash of the milk into a blender or food processor and blitz until it’s a fine puree.
- Add the remaining ingredients and continue to blitz until very smooth.
- Strain the lassi through a sieve into a glass if you like it very smooth, or pour it, pulp and all, into a glass, sprinkle with a bit of turmeric if you'd like, and serve immediately.
- If you're not keen on turmeric you can easily omit it altogether or try replacing it with a bit of ginger or cardamom.
- This recipe is more of a guide as you can really adjust it to your own taste. It's lovely made with water in place of milk, and you can adjust the amount of honey to your desired sweetness, or leave it out all together if you'd like!