Of Donkeys & Dhoklas

Masala chaach is pretty much a summer favorite in most Indian households across regions, and it’s not at all surprising that many miss gulping down glassfuls of this mildly spiced, refreshing, and hydrating drink on a hot day after going vegan.

But guess what? Vegan versions of chaach can be easily made at home! The most obvious way would be to substitute dairy curd with a non-dairy one in your regular chaach recipe, but what if you don’t have any non-dairy curd on hand? Still no worries, we’ve got you covered, read on 🙂

To make this chaach, you first need to prepare a “base” with rice and cashews. Then you stir in a couple of slit chillies and keep aside overnight. Tada! Your slightly fermented base teeming with “good” bacteria is ready in the morning to be made into yummy chaach!

Preparation time: 30 +10 minutes of active work + overnight

Yields up to 1 litre chaach

Ingredients

For the “chaach” base:

• ½ cup rice (white/brown)
• ½ cup cashews
• 3 cups water + cold water, as required in an additional step (around 4-6 cups)
• 2 green chillies, slit in the middle

For the masala:

• 1 green chilli
• A small piece of ginger
• 6-7 kadhi patta (curry leaves)
• 2-3 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves
• Juice from 1 lemon
• Chat masala, to taste
• Jeera powder, to taste
• Kala namak, to taste

Method:

1. Put the rice, cashews, + three cups of water in a pressure cooker and cook for up to four whistles.
2. Once it’s just slightly warm, grind the mixture into a smooth puree.
3. Add the two slit chillies to the warm puree and keep aside overnight. This process will help to introduce “good” bacteria for fermenting the mixture.
4. In the morning, discard the slit chillies and whisk well.
5. In a small mixer jar, grind one small chilli, a small piece of ginger, kadhi patta, and coriander leaves into a smooth paste.
6. Transfer the cashew-rice mixture and the masala paste made in the step above to a large mixing bowl. Mix well. Add as much cold water as you’d like to this mixture, to make chaach of your preferred consistency.
7. Add lemon juice, kala namak, jeera powder, and chat masala to taste. Enjoy!

Instead of kadhi patta, you can use pudina for a different flavour. Or you can skip any additional masala ingredients and just add kala namak and jeera powder for a simple salty chaach.