Mattha Spiced Buttermilk Maharashtra Jaggery

Ingredients

• 2 cups full-fat yogurt
• 4 cups cold water
• 1 tsp fresh ginger — finely grated
• 1 green chilli — minced
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves — finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp black salt
• a pinch of regular salt
• For the tempering (optional but traditional):
• 1 tsp oil, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 6 curry leaves
• ice cubes

Method

1. Churn the yogurt: Beat 2 cups yogurt in a deep vessel until completely smooth and frothy — using a blender or hand churner for 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Add cold water: Add 4 cups cold water gradually while whisking. The Maharashtrian mattha is thinner than lassi but slightly thicker than water — a specific flowing consistency.
3. Add ginger: Add finely grated fresh ginger. Stir.
4. Add green chilli: Add finely minced green chilli.
5. Add coriander: Add finely chopped fresh coriander. Stir.
6. Add spices: Add roasted cumin powder, black salt and regular salt. Stir well.
7. Make the tempering: Heat 1 tsp oil in a tiny pan. Add mustard seeds — pop. Add curry leaves — they crackle. Pour immediately over the buttermilk.
8. Stir the tempering through: Stir the mustard-curry leaf tempering through the spiced buttermilk.
9. Taste and adjust: The mattha should be tangy, cooling, mildly spiced, herby from the coriander and have the characteristic warmth of fresh ginger.
10. Add ice and serve: Add ice cubes. Serve in large glasses.
11. Note: Mattha is the everyday cooling drink of Maharashtra — served with the midday meal and consumed throughout the afternoon in homes and dhabas across the state. The tempering of mustard seeds and curry leaves directly over the yogurt drink is specifically Maharashtrian — it adds a cooked, aromatic element that plain buttermilk lacks. In traditional Maharashtrian households, a pot of mattha is always kept ready in summer.