West Indian

Chaas (Spiced Buttermilk)

Name: Chaas (Spiced Buttermilk)
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: West Indian
Ingredients: 1 cup plain curd; 3 cups water; 1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder; 1/4 tsp black salt; 1 tsp grated ginger; 1 green chili; 2 tbsp chopped cilantro; 1/4 tsp salt

Nikhil Kelkar @nikhil_thali

Chaas (Spiced Buttermilk) is West Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the condiment. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.

10 min Easy Heart healthy Diabetic friendly Low carb Vegetarian Halal Gluten free Pescatarian

Ingredients

Serves

The quantities follow this count.

1 cup plain curd
3 cups water
1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder
1/4 tsp black salt
1 tsp grated ginger
1 green chili
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
1/4 tsp salt

How to cook it

Whisk the curd with the water until smooth and frothy, a hand blender or a traditional churner works well here.
Stir in the roasted cumin powder, black salt, salt, grated ginger, and finely chopped green chili.
Chill well and garnish with cilantro just before serving.
Serve cold in tall glasses alongside lunch, as a digestive.

Watch how to cook Chaas (Spiced Buttermilk)

Someone making it start to finish, so you can see what the steps look like.

Serve it with

A West Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Chaas (Spiced Buttermilk), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.

The dish at the centre
- Aamti (Goda-Masala Spiced Dal)
  
  40 min
The cooked vegetable
- Batata Bhaji (Dry Potato Bhaji)
  
  25 min
What it is eaten with
- Bajra Bhakri (Pearl Millet Flatbread)
  
  35 min
- Jowar Bhakri (Sorghum Flatbread)
  
  30 min
Something cool and fresh
- Koshimbir (Cucumber-Peanut Curd Salad)
  
  15 min

Safe at your table

Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. Chaas (Spiced Buttermilk) carries dairy. It is free of the remaining 9 allergens on that list.

Every tracked allergen in Chaas (Spiced Buttermilk)
Allergen	In this dish	Cook this instead
Peanuts	No
Tree nuts	No
Dairy	Yes	Dhokla (Steamed Fermented Rice-Lentil Cake)
Gluten	No
Shellfish	No
Eggs	No
Soy	No
Fish	No
Sesame	No
Coconut	No

These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.

What it brings to the plate

Estimated, per serving

Calories: 40 kcal
Protein: 2 g
Carbs: 4 g
Fat: 2 g
Fiber: 0 g
Sugar: 3 g
Sodium: 140 mg
Saturated fat: 1 g

Estimated values. Actual nutrition varies with ingredients, brands, and how you cook.

When to cook it

Chaas (Spiced Buttermilk) takes about 10 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is easy going. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.