Mango Lassi – Best Milk and Yogurt for Mango Lassi

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What amount (percentage) of fat does the typical plain yoghurt and a typical milk has? Or what is the best milk and yoghurt to prepare a mango lassi?

I'd like to prepare a typical mango lassi, based on a recipe given on of the mango pulp's cans:

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But, I don't know, what exactly plain yoghurt and milk (percentage of fat) means here?

Here, where I live (Poland), we have at least four types of yoghurt, based on fat amount:

  • 0.0%,
  • 1.8% or 2.0%,
  • 3.0% and
  • 10.0% Greek style.

But, we call them all plain yoghurt, because "plain" means no sugar and no fruit-like additions.

We also have at least four types of milk, also based on fat amount:

  • 0.0%,
  • 0.5%,
  • 1.5% or 2.0%,
  • 3.2% and
  • 3.8%.

What would be the best yoghurt and milk for the mango lassi preparation?

So far (until I found the above recipe) I've been using a much simpler recipe of mango pulp + plain yoghurt, without milk and water. And I have used following combinations:

  • pulp + 1.8% yoghurt in 1:1.5 proportions,
  • pulp + 10.0 Greek style yoghurt in 1:1 proportions.

In both cases the results were not the best (meaning: the final product was tasty, but far from what is served in Indian restaurant).

Best Answer

It all depends on taste [of course].

Lower fat milk & yoghurt are sharper, more tangy, almost 'lemony'.
High fat are rich, smooth & creamy.

So, start with 'How tart do you like your lassi?' & work from there.

Personally, I like lassi to have some 'bite' to it, so I'd go for zero-fat yoghurt & probably what in the UK would be called semi-skimmed milk, around 2% fat - but that may have more to do with it being the one we always have in the fridge than any other consideration.

I'd say if you want a 'smoother' feel to it, increase fat content on both, but be prepared to have to thin it down further to achieve a drinkable consistency.

BTW, don't use set yoghurt ;)

Yoghurt itself varies in acidity between varieties even at the same fat content, so you have the additional task of figuring out which brand gives the best start-point.
I can't really recommend any particular brand as I doubt they sell my usual Lancashire Farm in Poland ;) but I'd always pick a large independent who look like they might actually care over one of the major multinationals.
An additional factor is that you can now get zero fat Greek yoghurt… which completely breaks the standard pattern of lower-fat == more acidic.

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