flipDoogh (yogurt and mint drink)
Doogh (yogurt and mint drink)
Why this dish? Doogh accompanies almost every Iranian meal. A thirst-quenching, digestive, low-sugar drink, it perfectly suits the kind of simple, healthy food allowed to astronauts — and it is the table reflex of an Iranian family like Anousheh Ansari's in Mashhad and later in Texas.
A fermented drink made from beaten yogurt thinned with water, flavored with dried mint and lightly salted. Served well chilled, sometimes sparkling when carbonated.
In Texas as in Mashhad, as soon as it gets hot, I always come back to doogh. It's simple: yogurt, water, a pinch of salt, mint crushed between your fingers — nothing more, and yet nothing quenches thirst better. During my training at Star City, the Russian doctors weighed every gram of salt on my plate, so I measured my mint with the same precision an engineer calculates a trajectory! Believe me: the real cutting-edge technology, sometimes, is a glass of cold doogh that brings you back down to Earth.
- •Plain yogurt — a bowl (fermented base)
- •Cold water — equal parts (dilution)
- •Dried mint — a pinch (flavor)
- •Salt — a pinch (seasoning)
Doogh (yogurt and mint drink)
A fermented drink made from beaten yogurt thinned with water, flavored with dried mint and lightly salted. Served well chilled, sometimes sparkling when carbonated.
Why this dish? Doogh accompanies almost every Iranian meal. A thirst-quenching, digestive, low-sugar drink, it perfectly suits the kind of simple, healthy food allowed to astronauts — and it is the table reflex of an Iranian family like Anousheh Ansari's in Mashhad and later in Texas.
In Texas as in Mashhad, as soon as it gets hot, I always come back to doogh. It's simple: yogurt, water, a pinch of salt, mint crushed between your fingers — nothing more, and yet nothing quenches thirst better. During my training at Star City, the Russian doctors weighed every gram of salt on my plate, so I measured my mint with the same precision an engineer calculates a trajectory! Believe me: the real cutting-edge technology, sometimes, is a glass of cold doogh that brings you back down to Earth.
Ingredients (period version)
- Plain yogurt — a bowl (fermented base)
- Cold water — equal parts (dilution)
- Dried mint — a pinch (flavor)
- Salt — a pinch (seasoning)
Ingredients
- Plain stirred yogurt — 250 g (fermented base)
- Cold water (still or sparkling) — 250 ml (dilution)
- Dried mint — 1 tsp (flavor)
- Salt — 1 pinch (seasoning)
- Dried rose petals or fresh mint leaves — for serving (decoration (optional))
Method
- Whisk the yogurt vigorously until very smooth.
- Gradually add the cold water while whisking to obtain a fluid texture.
- Stir in the dried mint rubbed between your fingers and the salt.
- Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes; for a sparkling version, use carbonated water at serving time.
- Serve very cold, optionally garnished with fresh mint.
How it was made : Doogh is a millennia-old drink from Iran and Central Asia, cousin to Turkish ayran and Indian salted lassi. Before refrigeration, it was stored in animal-skin bags and shaken to make it frothy; some traditional versions were naturally carbonated through slight fermentation.
The contemporary twist : A 'zero gravity' version served in a pouch with a straw, like drinks consumed aboard the ISS to prevent them from floating away.
Anousheh Ansari · Charactorium
