Pehelwan lassi

You can eat it as dessert or drink it as a refreshing cooler, but be sure not to miss the lassi when in Varanasi. Pehelwan lassi served in kulhads. Tweaked it with ingredients like, malai, rabdi and almonds. Not only did people like the taste, but they also believed that the wrestler was selling what he himself consumed for his strength. 

Customers started calling it pehelwan lassi, and the tiny eight-foot-by-12-foot shop at Malviya Chauraha on Lanka Road got its name. Over the years, the pehelwan lassi transformed into a brand and the six sons of Panna Sardar expanded their business. They now have two more shops, one at Ravidas Chauraha on Lanka Road and another near Assi Ghat.

Pehelwan ki lassi, Pehelwan’s lassi, Pahalwan lassi bhandar or Pehelwan’s sweet lassi and gained popularity too.

To be fair, he says, everybody in Varanasi makes decent lassi. But what sets one apart is the quality of milk and other ingredients. Says his brother Vijay, “Some shop owners have started using synthetic milk and yoghurt, and also blend sugar and curd in a blender to meet rush hour demand. But we don’t use machines at all.”

Nearby village supplies fresh milk and they have their own marking system to check the standard. About 10-litre batches of milk are boiled with a dash of sugar and reduced to eight litres. The thickened and cooled milk is then set with the jaman in huge clay vessels.

Given the shop’s proximity to the Banaras Hindu University, college goers are always hanging out. “Whenever there is an alumni meet at BHU, former students in their sixties and seventies come to our shop and, over lassi, they recall the old days,”

Pehelwan Lassi is a benchmark He says the lassi is a natural and nutrient-dense drink, with no added flavour or preservative but loaded with probiotics, protein, fat and calcium.“The taste remains deliciously same and is better than any ice cream,” adds the general practioner, “You can indulge yourself and burn it also easily!”