spiced buttermilk/chaas/majiga

Summer is here. Thought of posting this simple thirst quencher and effective drink " spiced buttermilk". Making buttermilk on daily basis by just churning the curd/yoghurt and adding salt needs no explanation. But it is a big task to prepare it slightly tangy and flavourful drink, when you become exhausted after making a full course meal. I thought of preparing the spices alone in a liquid form and store it in fridge and use it as flavoring agent in enhancing the taste of the buttermilk in an easy way. I can say this is a recipe for masala/green liquid  for Neer Mor/buttermilk. It is a blend of two recipes ,one is the use of normal ingredients like green chili, ginger, coriander leaves which is visible in the packeted buttermilk drink. The other one is the use of small onions/shallots, which I saw in the tamil  magazine "Mangayar Malar" some years back. The idea of making it as a liquid came to me when each time I had to grind to paste all the ingredients and dilute it and strain. So I used more quantity of each of the ingredients and preserved it in a glass jar/bottle after diluting and straining. This came  handy for several days while making the spicy buttermilk. It was welcomed on daily basis later and it was easy to make children have buttermilk.

Grind to paste

Green chilli	4
Ginger	2” piece
Small  onion	6  pearls
Coriander	few twigs
Curry leaves	few twigs
Salt	1 tsp

Lime juice from 1/2 lime
Buttermilk 2 cups
Asafoetida  2 pinch

METHOD
Clean the ginger and peel the skin.
Peel small onions.
Grind to smooth paste all the ingredients given under "to grind".
Dilute with a glassful of water and strain.
The pulp can once again be ground using little water and the strained liquid can be added to the already
prepared liquid.
Add the lime juice and store the liquid in fridge.
Prepare buttermilk , strain and keep aside.
To make 2 cups of spiced buttermilk add 2-3 tblsp of the green liquid and add asafoetida and more salt if required.
Adjust the spice as per your taste.
To make the butter milk more spicy a pinch of black salt powder, roasted and powdered cumin powder can be added. If dry mint powder is available few pinches can be added.
Buttermilk should be cold  or the prepared buttermilk should be served chilled.