Phanna Thaak (Seasoned Buttermilk - Mangalore style)

A refreshing end to any heavy meal.
Seasoned buttermilk or "Phana Thaak" as its popularly called, is easy to make too.
Buttermilk is originally the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cream.
But since most people buy ready made butter, we normally do not get buttermilk at home.
So the next easiest option would be to use curds.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Buttermilk - 2 cups or curds - 1 cup
Ginger - 1 inch 
Green chillies - 1
Dry red chillies - 1
Mustard - 1 tsp
curry leaves - 4
Coriander leaves - 1 tsp
Salt to taste


Method:
If you are using buttermilk it means its already thin, so do not add any water.
If you are using curds, then put it in a big bowl and add 2 cups water and mix well.
Now crush the green chillies and garlic well using a hand mortar or a mixer.
Mix it into the buttermilk or diluted curds.
Now take a seasoning pan, add 1/2 tsp oil, mustard, when it crackles add red chilli and curry leaves.
Now fry for a few seconds and pour it into the bowl of curds/buttermilk.
Mix well.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
Serve chilled.
A handy tip would be after seasoning mix the buttermilk well and keep in fridge for 2 hrs.
While serving especially to kids, strain the buttermilk to remove all the herbs, chillies etc, to get a clear drink. I do this for my daughter as she likes to drink only flavoured buttermilk without the bits of the ingredient.