Masala Chaas Recipe (North Indian Buttermilk)

The classic Chaas (Chaach/Mattha) also known as the Indian version of buttermilk is a refreshingly cooling summer drink made with creamy yogurt and seasonings. Here you’ll find step-by-step instructions with photos for making two chaas recipes – Masala Chaas and Pudina Chaas. Called by various names across the country this spiced Indian buttermilk drink features lots of bold, delicious spices.

Traditional Indian chaas is made by blending cold, rich yogurt with a bit of water and nearly any spices you like. Today I’m sharing with you two recipes for making chaas. The buttermilk is made by churning or blending yogurt and water with some spices and/or herbs. A bit of butter comes on the surface while churning.

If you prefer you can remove the butter fat aside and only serve the buttermilk or serve chaas with the butter fat. We love to have chaas with that bit of butterfat. To make chaas, you can use a blender, an immersion blender, a wired whisk or the traditional Indian handheld wooden churner (called madani). Not only salty chaas is had during summers but also as a part of meals and sometimes before or after meals. There are again many ways of making it.

We also drink the buttermilk separated from blending/churning cultured cream or yogurt while making homemade butter – which is traditionally known as buttermilk all over the world. But here in India, we call both these drinks chaas or buttermilk – whether made from blending yogurt or derived from cream.

About Masala Chaas Recipe-

This first version is your classic, simple basic recipe for making masala chaas with just a hint of black salt, a few mint leaves and cumin, along with ideas to prepare your favorite spicy version and tips for adding your preferred seasonings.

Some variations of authentic spiced Masala Chaas, also include herbs like coriander (cilantro) leaves. Plus, chopped green chiles, ginger or black pepper for an extra bit of bite.

Some of these ingredients are very flavorful and they happen to be great for your gut health, too! The yogurt, black salt, ginger, cumin, and coriander leaves are all known to aid in digestion and help boost energy.

I have used a blender to make masala chaach. Feel free to customize the spices and herbs according to your likings.

Seasonings, Spices and Herbs-

For any chaas or chaach variation that you make and that includes the “plain” Indian buttermilk, black salt – known as kala namak is often added. This special ingredient is used in many summer coolers.

It is an intrinsic part of Shikanjvi (Indian lemonade), another popular North Indian summer coolant. (You can also add black salt in fruit juices like apple pomegranate juice, black grapes juice etc, for a bit of sulfur-like saltiness that really enhances the sweetness of the fruit.)

Along with the black salt, ground cumin is a common addition to most chaas recipes. The combination of salt and cumin adds a terrifically earthy and vibrant zing to the buttermilk drink. Cumin also helps in digestion.

How to make Masala Chaas?

1. To a large blender add 1.5 cups of chilled or cold curd (yogurt), 1 teaspoon of roasted ground cumin, 1 tablespoon of chopped mint leaves or coriander leaves (cilantro), and ½ teaspoon of black salt (or regular salt, as needed).

For a spicy version of masala chaas, add ½ teaspoon of fresh grated ginger and ½ teaspoon of chopped green chillies OR ¼ teaspoon of black pepper.

2. Next add 1 cup of cold or room temperature water. For a colder spiced Indian buttermilk, add a few ice cubes.

3. Blend for 2 to 3 minutes, until the ingredients are combined and the curd has been whisked well.

You should see a nice frothy foamy layer on the top with a bit of butter fat separated from the blending.

Cacık – A Refreshing Yoghurt & Cucumber Dip

Since 5,000 BC. That’s how long natural yoghurt is said to have been a part of people’s lives; at least in the region of ancient Mesopotamia, that is. And that includes parts of modern day Turkey. If you know Turkey, you’ll know there’s a whole raft of meze dishes that celebrate the wonder food that is yoghurt. Perhaps the most famous of these is cacık (pronounced somewhere between ja-jick and ja-jerk).

Cacık can be enjoyed in different ways. It can be one of the dishes that make up your meze table. A thick, creamy yoghurt and cucumber dip to be mopped up with crusty bread. It can be a side dish to grilled meats such as köfte, fresh off the barbecue. We also love it as a dressing when we make falafel. Thinned out and watered right down, Turkish cacık can also be a cooling refresher.

Served icy cold in a separate bowl, cacık can be enjoyed as a summer ‘soup’ that soothes and refreshes both during and after a meal.

What better on a hot sunny day than the pairing of ice cold, soupy yoghurt and cucumber?

Over the years, we’ve eaten cacık in its various forms.

And now, when we make it at home, we have our own cacık recipe. Everyone prefers their own way with added extra ingredients – or not.

The two certains in Turkish cacık, however, are the yoghurt and the cucumber. The rest is personal preference.

Our Cacık Recipe-

So, how do we make cacık? Well, there’s a bit of extra cucumber prep for us.

The Cucumber Part of The Cacık-

It’s completely fine to simply wash and roughly chop it. Depending on the texture you prefer, you could leave your cucumber in large chunks or you can grate it.

As you can see in the photo below, we like our cucumber to be very finely chopped, just like when we make ezme or kısır.

You will also notice that we remove the skin and the seeds in the centre of the cucumber.

This is because Barry and cucumbers don’t get along too well and the skin and the seeds are oft said to be the main culprits.

And, removal makes for a more uniform texture in the cacık dip, too.

These days, growers are growing and selling ‘burpless’ cucumbers. The cucurbitacin content of cucumbers is what causes some people to develop indigestion from cucumbers.

And, for ‘burpless’ cucumbers, this is reduced in the growing process.

Whatever the case, Turkish cucumbers are often sweet with thin skins and few seeds. We just like to play it safe. This is especially the case in with the seasonal springtime ‘badem’ cucumbers.

Either way, once they have been immersed into the yoghurt and other ingredients, problem solved.

The Yoghurt Part Of Our Cacık Recipe-

We always have süzme yoghurt in our house.

This is the thick strained yoghurt that is just so smooth and creamy. When we make cacık, we water it down ever so slightly so that it is the texture you can see in the photo above.

For a more velvety texture, we also add a glug of olive oil. And then grated garlic. We can’t not have garlic in our cacık. This one is divisive.

We agree with the Turks who think garlic is a must. Many others will say, no, no garlic.

(Wonder if that’s a similar divide to the 49%-51% in the great ‘to onion or not to onion’ debate when you make menemen.)

And then, for that extra bit of refreshment, we add dried mint and lemon juice.

Serving Your Cacık-

If you like, you can garnish your cacık to make it look pretty when you serve it.

Cacık served with kuzu pirzola (lamb chops) is a perfect combination. Other grilled meats are great, too.

Or, if you’re having a night in in front of the TV, get yourself some breadsticks, tortilla chips – or celery and carrot sticks if you’re being healthy – and use your cacık as a tasty, moreish yoghurt and cucumber dip.