Chaas

Chaas is the thin, soured milk left from churning butter, and it belongs to the oldest dairying households of the subcontinent, where curd was set nightly, churned at dawn and the buttermilk given to the household and the neighbours. In Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra it is a daily companion to the thali, and in the south it is known as moru in Kerala and majjige in Karnataka, each with its own seasoning. It is carried by the home kitchen rather than by any single caste or court, and the tiffin tradition that Sonal Ved describes keeps it in the lunchbox of the working household.

Chaas is yoghurt of cow's or buffalo's milk, whisked with cold water to a pouring thinness, roughly one part curd to three or four of water, and seasoned with salt. The usual additions are roasted and ground cumin, a little black salt, fresh coriander and mint, green chilli and grated ginger; in the south, curry leaf Murraya koenigii and a tempering of mustard Brassica juncea are common. Properly it is light, faintly sour and entirely smooth, with no curd lumps and no butter slick. Traditional chaas is the true by-product of churning; the household version is made by whisking set curd.

Chaas is drunk at the end of a thali, with rice and dal, and beside fried or spiced food such as farsan, kachori and the heavier curries of the plains. The structural reason is acidity and cold: the sour, lightly salted liquid cuts fat and sets against chilli heat, and it is served at midday in summer when the meal is richest. Ayurvedic tradition counts buttermilk a cooling food and serves it on those occasions.