I survived on mango lassis when I was living in India. Like an Indian-style smoothie, lassis are made from yoghurt mixed with water and spices, and can be salty or sweet. Salty lassis take a bit of getting used to but are delicious on a cold day. Different parts of India have different preferences and flavourings. In North India, we mainly drank mango lassis. The mangoes over there are so fresh and juicy, you can squash them up with your hands into a pulp, make a small hole in one of the ends and suck out the juice. This, mixed with goats milk yoghurt, plenty of jaggery (unrefined cane sugar) and spices is the basic foundation of a lassi, and absolute heaven after a rich spicy meal.

I’ve been working on a dessert to finish the evening of my Curry & Chips Club (my first Curry For Change supper club which will raise money for the charity Find Your Feet). I have come up with the Mango Lassi Posset: a  smooth and creamy lime posset with all the beautiful flavours of a lassi. It’s rich but still light, and not too sweet. Such a crowd pleaser, even for the most skeptical of dinner guests.

Serves 4

Mango & lime lassi possets   (Serves 4)

Ingredients

• 200ml mango pulp, from a can
• 2 limes
• 150g soft light brown sugar
• 300ml double cream
• 200g full fat yoghurt
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• a pinch of dried rose petals (optional)

Add the zest and juice from both limes to a small saucepan and pour in the soft light brown sugar. Stirring constantly, heat the pan slowly on the smallest ring of your hob until the sugar dissolves and the mixture starts to boil and turns to a syrup. Turn off the heat but keep the syrup warm

Pour the double cream into a large sauce pan with the salt and all the ground spices. Whisk this up and little and give a quick taste and add more ground spices if necessary (you should be able to taste a hint of each but no one spice should overpower the others.) Slowly heat up the flavoured cream until it begins to boil. As soon as it starts, remove from the heat then pour lime sugar syrup and whisk until smooth. now transfer to a jug and mix in the mango and yoghurt.

Pour the mixture through a sieve into 4 equal sized glasses or ramekins and cover loosely with clingfilm. Place in the fridge and leave to cool and set for between 8-12 hours (or overnight) and  serve straight from the fridge, sprinkled with rose petals.

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