Buttermilk@India

Indian yoghurt (dahi in Hindi) is an essential food in quite a few Indian households. Yet it is still a luxury, for I doubt the poor get to have this on a daily basis. Even with the improved economy, a family would need various things in order to make and preserve this yoghurt.

Today, with India as one of the world's largest producers of milk, various milk products are marketed and consumed. 

Where once one had to get the milk at the right temperature (neither too hot nor too cold) before adding the "scatter" (a bit of yoghurt) if one desired a well set bowl of yoghurt, one now merely has to buy Indian yogurt at any shop. 

In North India, Punjab and the Hindi speaking belt, the yogurt is churned with sugar and ice cubes for a nice chilled lassi-often served with lunch. 

To the South, where cow rearing is, for some reason, not so active, Indian buttermilk is more popular. And it is called More!

The yogurt is churned with lots of water, salt is added among other things and this is also served with meals.  

In Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra, the More is tempered. Pieces of dried red chilli, mustard seeds, curry leaves and other things are spluttered in hot oil and added to the More.

In Kerala More is less. It is called Sambharam and it is even more dilute. 

Recipe

Ingredients
One cup of Indian yoghurt
About 4-5 glasses of water (more or less depending on how you like it)
One small teaspoon of salt
one green chilli broken into bits
a tiny bit of fresh ginger finely diced
Some curry leaves or crushed lemon leaves

Method

Churn it all up and serve chilled
This is the best thing to beat the blazing heat of our summer. 

Here, in India, it's even easier as they now sell Chaanch-buttermilk! I further dilute it and make my sambharam