Summer Drinks From a Desi Pantry: Six Glasses, Five Minutes

You do not need a recipe tab for a cold glass

The afternoon is hot, a guest has arrived, and the only plan is "something cold". The good news is that desi kitchens have a long list of drinks that need no stove at all. The better news is that most of them use three or four things you already own: yogurt, limes, sugar, salt, a bit of mint.

This post sorts six no-cook summer drinks from our library by what you need and how long they take. All amounts come from the recipe pages linked in each section. For a deeper comparison of the yogurt ones, see lassi vs chaas vs laban.

The six at a glance

Four of the six lean on yogurt, which is the point. A single tub of plain yogurt covers most of the list, so it is the one thing worth always having in the fridge before the heat arrives.

If you only have limes: lebur sharbat

The Bangladeshi lime sharbat is four limes, four tablespoons of sugar, a pinch of black salt, a quarter cup of lightly crushed mint, and cold water. You squeeze the limes into a jug, straining the seeds, stir in sugar and salt until it dissolves, add cold water to taste, then the mint, and pour over a lot of ice.

The recipe makes a point about salt: black salt gives the drink its tang, and regular salt tastes flat by comparison. If you do not have it, a smaller pinch of regular salt works, but it is a different drink. The other trick is to chill the water first. Warm tap water over ice melts the ice before anyone has taken a sip.

If you have yogurt and 5 minutes: laban

Laban is the fastest drink on the list. It takes 300 g of yogurt whisked smooth, cold water added until it is thin and drinkable, half a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of crushed dried mint. The recipe suggests an hour in the fridge, but if you use cold water and ice you can skip the wait. It is the one to serve alongside a heavy, spiced meal, because the tang and salt balance biryani or a rich curry.

If you want to choose sweet or salty: doi ghol

Doi ghol, a Bengali yogurt drink, is yogurt whisked with chilled water and then sweetened or salted. The tip on the recipe page is the best advice in this whole post: make it sweet or salty, never both. A drink that tries to be both ends up tasting vaguely off, and pointing in one direction makes it far more refreshing. Use 2 tablespoons of sugar for the sweet version, or a pinch of salt with 1/2 teaspoon of roasted ground cumin for the salty.

If you are feeding six: borhani

Borhani is the one on the list with a little work in it, and it is still only 15 minutes. You blend mint (half a cup), coriander (a quarter cup), two green chillies and a teaspoon of mustard paste with a little water into a smooth paste, whisk it into 500 g of yogurt with roasted cumin and salt, thin it with chilled water, and strain it for a silky finish. It serves six, which makes it the right choice for a party.

Borhani is always savoury. The recipe's own tip says that if it tastes flat it needs more salt or green chilli, not sugar. It is a drink for rich food, and it is best made an hour ahead so it can chill.

If you want something sweet and cold: lassi or Vimto

The lassi takes 400 g of yogurt, 100 ml of milk and 3 tablespoons of sugar, blended for a minute. It is thick, sweet and filling, closer to a snack than a thirst quencher. If the lassi comes out thin, why is my lassi thin goes through the fixes.

The Vimto drink is a syrup drink: 100 ml of Vimto syrup stirred into a jug of ice and cold water, with optional evaporated milk for a creamy version and a little desiccated coconut on top. It needs a bottle of syrup, so it is the least pantry-friendly of the six, but it takes 5 minutes.

Three habits that make any of these better

1. Chill the water and the jug. Every recipe above either says so directly or benefits from it. Ice should cool the drink, not water it down.
2. Strain what has bits. Seeds in lebur sharbat and herbs in borhani both taste better strained. A fine sieve takes 30 seconds.
3. Salt in small steps. Salt and sour are close neighbours. Add a pinch, taste, add another. Salt is easy to add and impossible to remove.

<!-- VERIFY: no health or hydration claims are made in this post; the drinks are described only by flavour and prep. -->

A shopping list for the first heatwave week

• Plain full-fat yogurt, 1 kg
• 12 limes
• Sugar and black salt
• Fresh mint and dried mint
• Roasted cumin powder
• Green chillies and coriander, if you plan to make borhani
• One bottle of syrup if you plan to make Vimto drink

That covers all six drinks for a week with room to spare. If you want to see which of these your pantry already covers, try it on the try it page.