I have a favourite dairy food that I indulge in a lot, and insist that people who come to me for food advice gulp down a lot of it too. It's buttermilk, or chaach, the savoury variety of the more popular lassi.
So why do I love it so much? Well for starters its a yummy, cooling drink made from curd and spices like jeera, kadi patta (curry leaves), ginger and salt, and second for something so delicious it sure packs in numerous health benefits besides the necessary protein it delivers.
It hydrates.
Packed with electrolytes (particularly potassium) and water, chaach is the best way to fight dehydration.
If you are worried about scoring enough calcium (needed for strong bones), chaach can come to rescue. Made from curd, chaach is a great way of sneaking extra calcium, even for those who are lactose intolerant as most lactose intolerant people are able to tolerate chaach (and I say this from experience). Two glasses a day (1 cup curd) can deliver calcium that counts. So if you’re lactose intolerant, drinking chaas is one way to make sure you get your calcium.
Vitamins galore
Chaach also delivers multiple vitamins - B complex, A and E. It also delivers Vitamin B12, which most vegetarians tend to be deficient in.
It’s the best thing you can do for your stomach. It is light on stomach and extremely good for the digestive process. Plus it helps cut acidity, as it cools the stomach and reduces the irritation in the stomach lining that happens due to acid reflux. It also helps douse the fire in the stomach that wrong eating and eating spicy food may cause. Also, ginger, pepper and jeera in it, all make excellent digestive agents.
It’s also a perfect cleanser, as it effectively washes down the fat or oil or ghee or butter (from our food) that normally coats the inner walls of our food pipe and stomach and irritates the gut. Buttermilk delivers riboflavin that helps your liver to function properly and detoxify the body.
7 interesting avatars of buttermilk
Making regular masala chaach is childs play. Just take some pepper, jeera, kadi patta, dhania patta and a ginger piece and grind roughly in a mortar and pestle. Now whisk curd to make a thick paste, add water and mix well. Finally add salt and the above spices mix to the solution. Stir, chill and sip.