Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Thursday, July 10, 2008

don't get the masala lassi


This afternoon we went to evergreen sweet house so that Ryan could calm her spazzy stomach with a sweet lime soda. The last time we went there, I tried getting the jalebi, pictured here, which I have figured out is basically like fried sugar. It was yummy, but Ryan refused to eat any of it, so I ended up eating 100 grams of fried sugar and feeling sick to my stomach for the rest of the afternoon (and it was only 12.5 rupees, like 30 cents!)

I also tried a sweet lime soda last time, and determined that it tasted like an alcoholic drink, so this time, I decided to try something different. I've been familiar with a yogurt lassi, which is a drink made with yogurt and ice water and flavoring. The ones I have had in the states have been flavored with mango, and are super sweet and yummy. I've had one lassi here in India so far, a sweet one, which just tasted like yogurt and sugar. It was pretty good.

Today on the menu, I saw a few different flavors, but only one that I recognized: masala. Masala means spices, or spiced, in Hindi, and as I've mentioned previously, what we westerners know as 'chai' is what Indians refer to as 'garam masala.' So, I figured that a masala lassi was something like a chai lassi, sugary spiced yogurtness.

Boy, was I wrong. Masala really does only mean spices, and some of the food is called masala as well. What I got was basically a very sour yogurt drink with some Indian curry spices mixed in. It was quite possibly the foulest thing I've ever tasted, and I felt horrible for taking one sip and then nearly retching and leaving the rest for them to throw away. I couldn't even take it with me to give to a begging child because the yogurt was getting all soggy and soaking the plastic cup.

I also picked a random item from the list of desserts and ordered that. What I ordered was rasgullah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasgulla, if you're interested) which was like a disgusting empty dumpling soaked in sugary rose flavored syrup. The texture was horrific.

I should have gotten gelatto like Ryan and Erin. That's what I get for being experimental.