Ginger Peach Lassi

It's been hot in San Diego. Record-breaking heat-wave hot. AC-inducing, burning-the-succulents-in-my-garden hot. And summer has only just begun...

I'm now living on iced tea, chilled soups, and Thai summer rolls. Then my mom gifted me with white peaches that are now in abundance on her tree. So I turned several of them into a divine drink perfect for this hot weather: a lassi.

What's a lassi? Basically a sweet or savory Indian drink originally from the Punjab region that has yogurt or buttermilk as a base. It can include fruit and/or spices, and is wonderfully refreshing. And did I mention that they're as easy to make as a smoothie?

For my lassi, I rounded up some peaches, ice, lime zest and juice, honey, fresh ginger, and yogurt. It would be sweet, bright with the acid, and have a little zing from the ginger.

Because the ingredients would all go into the blender, there was little prep. Seed and roughly chop the peaches, pull out some ginger from my freezer that I had conveniently grated and stored, zest the lime and then squeeze the juice in my very nifty new (to me) vintage Wear-Ever aluminum juicer that Chef Marguerite Grifka of California's Table introduced me to and that I found on eBay.

I tossed all the ingredients into my Vitamix and let her rip. In just moments I had a frothy chilled peach confection of a drink that got me through 90+ degrees that afternoon. Phew!

Ginger Peach Lassi
(printable recipe)
Serves 2

3-4 peaches, seeded and roughly chopped
3/4 cup of ice
Zest of 1/2 lime
Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon honey
1 1/2 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger

Place all ingredients into the bowl of a blender and puree until smooth. Pour into chilled glasses.

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