It was a hot summer afternoon. After playing for a while on the playground, all of us cousins were busy running up to my mavshi's (mom's sister) home for a drink of water."How about a peg of Kutchi Beer for you all?" When our teetotaler and vegetarian Gujarati Masaji (mavshi's husband/maternal uncle) asked all of us cousins, we were startled and worried about him. Frankly, we were expecting a royal scolding for playing in the hot sun and not a peg of some beer!He called our mavshi, and she too brought tall, steel glasses in a tray. "Cheers!" Masaji and mavshi said cheerfully. and all of us kids were flabbergasted. "Have they gone nuts?" .Then we peeked in - it was masala chhaas/buttermilk/maththa! which is also known as "Kutchi Beer"!! Sigh of relief and laughter followed!:-)
This masala chaas or Kutchi beer is made two ways. It can be delicately flavored by just surati jeeralu or to further enhance the flavor, it also can be given tadka (vaghar/fodni/tempering/chonk) of mustard seeds, asafoetida and cumin seeds.
For more information about Kutch, click here.
Kutchi Beer
Ingredients
4 cups Buttermilk
Salt to taste
sugar to taste
A generous pinch of Surti Jeeralu
1/2 tsp ginger+green chili paste or chopped
1 tsp chopped cilantro/coriander leaves (optional)
Tempering (Optional)
1 tsp oil or ghee
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafortida
Method
1. Mix all the ingredients
2. Add tempering, if using.
Note
1. I added red, fresh chili just to add contrast in my picture above. It is not mandatory.
2. If you do not prefer chopped chilies/cilantro/ginger in the buttermilk, add the ground paste. But that version will be spicier.
This post is my contribution to RCI: Gujarat at Mythili's.
RCI is brainchild of Lakshmi of Veggiecuisine.
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10 comments:
I thought "HUH?!" when I saw the title!! Your uncle and aunt has a great sense of humor, glad your parents weren't around to hear what he offered y'all kids! Hahaha!!
We call it Masale Majjige in Kannada, I love to drink it chilled in Summer or eat with rice anytime.
Although we all have cultural differences growing up in India, it's amazing how similar most of our dishes are! That's what good about India! Great entry Meera!:)
love your buttermilk
You know my grandparents were once having Kaanji (its a reddish colored drink made of mustard seeds, beet and carrots) on their terrace and the neighborhood people thought that they were drinking sharab in broad daylight. What a scandal. Lol. The same goes here. I too make chaas the same way and we love ours with tempering.
Sounds interesting. Lovely Beer....ha ha I mean buttemilk. This is new to me! Worth giving a try. Thanks.
Hey thats a lovely name for masala chaas! Who wouldn't love it? (Hub loves it so much that in summers, usually a 1 1/2 litre bottle is always kept handy refrigerated)Lovely post,loved your pot!Its very cute!
wonderful drink...Thanks for sharing
Love this butter milk esp in summer ....cool in the fridge and have them ..awesome
Asha:
You know, it was not my uncle's invention to call it kutchi beer. it is on the menu card of welknown Gujarati restaurants of Mumbai - Kutchi beer a.k.a. masala chhas!
:-) Of course we didn't know then.
Sagari:
Thanks!
Vimmi:
Ha ha ha! that's really funny!
Uma:
Try it. Very cooling in summer time.
Purnima:
Yeah, do you know "Aaram" kutchi restaurant at Mahim, they have (or used to have at least)this as kutchi beer (masala chhas of course!) on the menu card.
Dhivya:
Glad you liked it.
Deepa:
yes! it's really cooling in summer.
Love masala chaas.. Dint knw it had this name also. If not for your post, I would also have wondered what this is by the name..Thanx for sharing
Kutchi Beer!!1 Sounds interesting.. ;)
i never know butter milk can be done differently..
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