Adding Spices to Indian Mango Lassi

Adding Spices to Indian Mango Lassi
Aloha, this is Sonia Martinez from the big island of Hawaii on behalf of Expert Village. The spices you use can be mixed into the drink or they can be sprinkled on top when you get through. The traditional spice would be the cumin, which is traditionally roasted and ground. Cumin has a nice sharp taste and odor and as you can see, because of the seeds, you would have to grind them before you could use them for a drink. Saffron has also been used in the past but as I mentioned before it's such an expensive herb or spice, it's either one. It's an herb because it's the pistols from the fall crocus and you have to pick each little pistol from the flower to get the saffron. Now to get the flavor of saffron you would either dip it in lemon juice and then crush with a mortar and pestle and that will release the taste. Cardamom, which is the one we're going to be using, is also a traditional one and it's one that you can grind and toast. Cardamom has a very pungent taste and odor and it will contrast very nicely with the mango we're going to be using. The nutmeg is an interesting spice. It's a nut, it's usually traditionally used in eggnog. You can either grate it like so and you get little bits like that, or you can just kind of shave it, which is a little bit harder to do but will also give you larger little pieces. We're not going to be using the nutmeg today but I just wanted to show you. We also can use, as a garnishing on the top of the drink, you can use slivered almonds or you can use any other nut. Cashews would be good but since we live in Hawaii we have macadamia nuts here I chose macadamia nuts. These have been roasted and they have been ground to just sprinkle on the drink.