Dairy-Free Mango Lassi

Less than a week after I swore off dairy-free yogurts because all the ones I tried were horrible, I bought another one. Go ahead and laugh. But I finally found a good one! Hooray!

It’s called Coyo Coconut Milk Yogurt Alternative and I found it at Bristol Farms, an overpriced gourmet supermarket in LA that you should never shop at unless you have money to burn. This 5.3-ounce cup cost $3.69. But you know… research.

I was willing to give this one a shot because it only has four ingredients and they all sounded reasonable: coconut cream, tapioca, pectin and probiotic cultures. It’s dairy-free, soy-free, gluten-free, and GMO-free.

And I’m happy to report that it tastes great!

It tastes mostly like coconut, with a good dose of yogurt-y sour. Unlike the other dairy-free yogurts I’ve tried, it’s actually white, rather than an unappetizing beige.

It’s also super thick and creamy. In fact, you can even use it in place of whipped cream, which I did with the leftovers after I made my mango lassi. Just add some honey to take the edge off the tartness and you’ve got a healthy dessert topping.

This yogurt was perfect as the base for my mango lassi. Just as I was resigning myself to a life without lassi, along comes Coyo! At $3.69 a cup, it’s a “sometimes treat,” but I encourage all you lassi lovers to try it at least once.

Here’s the recipe. The rose water is optional, but adds a lovely flavor. You can find it in most Persian markets.

Dairy-Free Mango Lassi

3/4 cup frozen mango chunks
1/2 cup Coyo Coconut Milk Yogurt Alternative (Natural)
1/4 cup almond milk
1 teaspoon honey
1 pinch cardamom
1/2 teaspoon rose water

Combine all the ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Makes one serving.

Almond Dream Non-Dairy Yogurt

So bad, even Godzilla won’t touch it.

I’ve already written one blog post about a terrible non-dairy yogurt, So Delicious, and I don’t want to repeat myself… but I feel it’s my duty to warn people about another terrible non-dairy yogurt, Almond Dream. This one is made from almonds (duh). I’m usually in favor of almond milk — for instance, I love almond milk lattes and cappuccinos. But this yogurt is godawful.

I don’t understand why it’s so hard to make a non-dairy yogurt that tastes decent. Can anyone explain this to me?

I got this yogurt because my husband and I recently purchased a NutriBullet blender and we’ve been making awesome green drinks and smoothies with it. Because the NutriBullet is so powerful, it can turn frozen chunks of mango into a sippable beverage in seconds, which our old, traditional blender couldn’t do. I found a NutriBullet recipe for mango lassi and wanted to try it using non-dairy yogurt.

But when I opened this yogurt and tasted it, I was so repulsed that I didn’t even make the lassi. Why waste good mango?

Next to a white napkin, note its unappealing beige color.

This yogurt tastes nothing like yogurt; it doesn’t even have the sourness of the So Delicious coconut-based yogurt. Nor does it have the nutty flavor of almond milk. It just tastes… unnatural. There’s really nothing good about it.

I’m starting to think I may never be able to drink a mango lassi again.

Of course, that’s what I said about ice cream and look what happened. So maybe there is hope… if Ben & Jerry’s starts making non-dairy yogurt.

So Delicious Dairy-Free Yogurt

Of all the dairy products I’ve had to give up, yogurt is the one I miss the least. Don’t get me wrong, there were times when I was eating yogurt on a daily basis, mostly because I thought it was good for me. You know, healthy gut bacteria and all that. I learned to make it palatable by mixing it with fresh fruit, granola, and a little honey, but I can’t say I ever looked forward to it as much as, say, eggs and bacon.

Nevertheless, when I saw that So Delicious had come out with a dairy-free, coconut-milk-based yogurt, I was curious enough to try it. I’ll cut to the chase: other than being sour, it tastes nothing like yogurt. It has such a strange flavor that if you didn’t tell me it was supposed to be yogurt, I would have no idea what it was. I wouldn’t dream of eating this stuff straight up.

I did try using it in a couple of recipes, though, including a tandoori chicken marinade that calls for a few tablespoons of plain yogurt. The So Delicious yogurt worked fine in this context, probably because the other flavors in the marinade were strong enough to mask its weirdness.

I also used it to make a mango lassi with less favorable results. I tried it several times, tweaking the recipe each time, and all versions came out so poorly that I won’t even post the recipe here.

Failed mango lassi. Looks better than it tasted.

I will, however, post the tandoori chicken recipe. Just know that you may be stuck with a pint of So Delicious yogurt that you won’t know what to do with. You could force yourself to eat it for the “active live cultures,” or you could just take a probiotic and call it a day.

Tandoori Chicken Recipe

2 chicken quarters or 6 chicken wings
3 tablespoons Sharwood’s Tandoori Spice Curry Powder
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons white vinegar
3 tablespoons plain yogurt (So Delicious Cultured Coconut Milk)
3 tablespoons lemon juice

If using chicken quarters, remove skin. With a sharp knife, make 5 to 6 shallow cuts into each side of chicken. Place chicken in a Ziploc bag.

In a small bowl, combine tandoori spice, olive oil, vinegar, yogurt, and lemon juice. Stir well. Pour mixture into Ziploc bag with the chicken, squeeze out excess air, and seal bag shut. Marinade in refrigerator a minimum of 4 hours, preferably overnight.

Grill chicken over direct high heat for 2 minutes each side, then move chicken to indirect heat and cook for 10 to 15 minutes longer. Discard remaining marinade.

I first discovered this at a British import shop, but you can buy it online.