Chaas Recipe: Spiced Buttermilk with Jeera, Pudina and Hing
“Dahi thoda, paani zyada, aur hing ka tarka zaroor.” Little yogurt, lots of water, and never skip the hing. That was the whole recipe as many of us heard it at the dining mat, and it still holds.
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Chaas is thin on purpose
Lassi and chaas are cousins, not twins. Lassi is thick, often sweet, and filling enough to count as a meal in a Punjabi village. Chaas, called mattha in Hindi-speaking homes and majjige in the south, is deliberately watery, salty and spiced. You drink it after a meal, not instead of one.
The ratio is what makes the difference. For chaas you use roughly one part yogurt to two or three parts water. Go thicker and you’ve made a salty lassi, which is pleasant but heavy after rice and dal.
Real, old-fashioned chaas was the thin liquid left after churning makkhan out of yogurt. Because the butter had been lifted off, it was lighter still. Most of us don’t churn butter any more, so the version below starts from ordinary homemade dahi.
Getting the dahi right
Use yogurt that has set in the last day or two. It should be mildly tangy, firm and smell clean and milky. Very sour dahi, left out overnight in May heat, makes a harsh drink that catches in the throat.
- Homemade: full-fat or toned milk both work. Full-fat gives a rounder taste.
- Shop-bought: choose plain, unsweetened yogurt without added starch or gelatin. Thick “set” style is easier to whisk than stirred ones.
- Warning signs: pink or grey spots, fuzzy growth, a bulging lid, or a yeasty, bitter smell. Throw it out. Don’t scrape and use the rest.
The recipe: jeera, pudina and hing chaas
This makes 3 glasses, about 750 ml. It takes 10 minutes.
You’ll need
- 250 g plain dahi (a generous cup), cold
- 500 ml chilled water
- 12 to 15 fresh mint (pudina) leaves
- A 1 cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled
- 1/2 green chilli, optional
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander
- 3/4 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black salt, plus plain salt to taste
- For the tadka: 1 teaspoon ghee or mustard oil, 1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds, a small pinch (about 1/16 teaspoon) of hing, 4 or 5 curry leaves (optional)
- Pound the mint, ginger, chilli and coriander in a mortar with a pinch of the salt to a rough green paste. Or blitz with 2 tablespoons of the water in a small grinder jar.
- Put the dahi in a large jug and whisk for 1 minute until completely smooth. A traditional wooden madhani gives the best froth, but a balloon whisk is fine.
- Add the green paste, roasted cumin powder and black salt. Whisk again.
- Pour in the chilled water gradually, whisking all the while, until it’s thin and frothy on top. If you use a blender, 10 seconds on low is plenty; longer can separate the fat.
- Now the tadka. Heat the ghee in a small ladle or pan on medium. Add cumin seeds and wait until they darken a shade and crackle, about 15 seconds.
- Take the pan off the heat, add the hing and curry leaves, and let them sizzle for 5 seconds. Hing burns fast and turns bitter, so the pan should be off the flame.
- Pour the tadka straight into the jug. It’ll hiss. Stir, taste for salt, and serve cold.
If you’d rather not heat anything, skip the tadka and add a pinch of raw hing dissolved in a spoon of water. It’s sharper this way and some people prefer it. The hing guide covers the difference between strong pure resin and the milder compounded powder most of us have at home.
How the after-lunch glass fits into the day
In most homes chaas arrives after the plate is cleared, around 1 to 2 pm, one glass of 200 to 250 ml. That timing isn’t accidental. A thin, salty, spiced drink at the end of a meal of roti, rice, dal and sabzi feels settling to a lot of people, and the cumin, ginger and hing are the same spices many families put into food anyway for that reason.
Drink it slowly. Gulping cold chaas straight after eating is uncomfortable for some. And while you’ll see people drinking it at night, many traditional households keep yogurt drinks to daytime.
Ayurvedic texts give buttermilk (takra) a high place. It is described as light, sour and astringent, and it was traditionally recommended after meals, which matches what grandmothers have done for generations. Interestingly, the same tradition is not an unconditional fan. Some verses quoted by practitioners say takra should be avoided during the hottest part of summer, by people who are very weak, or where there is a wound or burn, because it was considered to carry some heating quality in that system despite feeling cool. Unani thinking describes yogurt as cold and wet, and hakeems traditionally balanced it with warming spices like cumin, black pepper or dried mint. That is exactly the logic behind the tadka. These are ideas about temperament, not evidence about digestion.
Myths worth letting go of
“Chaas is the same as probiotic supplements”
Homemade dahi does contain live cultures, but diluting and salting it makes something quite different from a measured supplement. Enjoy it as food. Don’t treat it as medicine for any stomach condition.
“Chaas melts fat after a heavy meal”
It doesn’t. It is low in calories compared with lassi or a soft drink, which is a genuine reason to choose it. That’s the whole of the story.
“The more hing the better”
Too much hing makes chaas taste medicinal and can cause heartburn. A pinch for three glasses is right. If you want more digestive flavour, use roasted jeera instead of piling on hing.
“Buttermilk from the shop is the same”
Cartoned “cultured buttermilk” in some countries is thicker and plainer. Packaged Indian chaas is closer, but read the sodium figure. Some brands are very salty.
Salt: this recipe carries about 1/2 teaspoon of black salt across three glasses plus whatever you add. If you’ve been told to limit salt for blood pressure, heart or kidney reasons, use half the salt and more mint and lemon. Hing and gluten: most powdered hing is mixed with wheat flour. People with coeliac disease need a certified gluten-free hing or none. Pregnancy: chaas made with pasteurised milk is an ordinary food, but keep hing to the usual kitchen pinch, as larger amounts have traditionally been avoided in pregnancy. Babies: infants under one shouldn’t have salted, spiced chaas; offer plain dahi only when your paediatrician says solids are fine. Milk allergy: dahi still contains milk protein. People who are only lactose intolerant often cope with small glasses, but go carefully. Medications: if you take a potassium-sparing diuretic or ACE inhibitor and use a low-sodium “lite” salt, check the label, because those salts are often potassium-based.
Leftover chaas at room temperature for more than two hours in hot weather should be thrown away. See a doctor for stomach pain that is severe or keeps coming back, vomiting that won’t stop, blood in stool, or any swelling of lips or throat after dairy.
Keeping it and playing with it
Chaas is best within an hour. It will keep for up to 24 hours covered in the fridge, but the mint turns dark and the drink grows sourer. Whisk again before serving.
A few variations families swear by: add 1/4 teaspoon roasted saunf powder for a sweeter, more fragrant finish. Or a pinch of crushed black pepper for bite. In Gujarat you’ll often find a few curry leaves and grated ginger only, no mint at all.
For other summer glasses, namkeen sattu sharbat is heartier, while the tangy, fermented black carrot kanji is chaas’s winter-into-spring counterpart. More everyday recipes live in Desi Remedies.
Can I use Greek yogurt?
Yes, but it’s much thicker. Use about 150 g Greek yogurt with 600 ml water for the same batch.
Why did my chaas separate?
Usually over-blending, or dahi that was too sour. Whisk by hand next time and use fresher yogurt.
Can I drink chaas with dinner?
Many do. Traditional households often preferred it at midday, so if you find it heavy at night, keep to lunchtime.
Can I use dried mint?
Yes. Crush 1/2 teaspoon dried mint between your palms and add it with the cumin. It tastes deeper and less grassy.
Is it okay for kids?
Children over one year can have a small glass with less salt, no chilli and no hing. Check with your paediatrician if your child has any dairy issues.
What is the difference between chaas and lassi?
Lassi is thick, often sweet and filling. Chaas is deliberately thin, salty and spiced, made with roughly one part yogurt to two or three parts water, and is drunk after a meal rather than instead of one.