Arre keene maari pichkaari tohri bheegi angiya……..
Ho rang rasiya……..rang rasiya…….
Holi Hai!!!!! Yes, Holi is here – the festival of colours, of love, of happiness, of brotherhood. With all the other fun things that Holi brings to us, one that is most important, is food. Apparently, no festival in India is celebrated without sweets, snacks and drinks. Holi is no exception. While various sweets and snacks are consumed during Holi, the beverage that is extremely popular in India is Thandai or Sardai.
Thandai is a super summer cooler and is prepared by mixing milk with spices and nuts. Apart from being super delectable, Thandai is packed with lots of health benefits as well. Along with beating the heat of summer, it helps immunity to cope up with the season change. While you are already drenched with colours and planning to go mad over colours for the whole day, a glass full of Thandai is what you need to keep yourself going.
Typically, Thandai is prepared by mixing bhaang (cannabis) and is called as Bhaang Thandai and is hugely popular in Indian subcontinents. But, the non-intoxicating version is equally popular which has its dependency on nuts and can be termed as Badam Thandai and this is what I have prepared today. Here’s the recipe.
Ingredients:
- 600 ml milk + 5 table-spoon milk for making paste
- 12 cashew nut
- 15 almond
- 15 pistachio
- 1 table-spoon melon seed
- 1 table-spoon poppy seed
- 1.5 table-spoon fennel seed
- 1 table-spoon dried rose petal
- 1 cinnamon stick (1 inch)
- 6 cardamom, take out the seeds
- few saffron sticks
- 6 table-spoon sugar
Method:
- Soak cashew nut, almond and pistachio in water for 2 hours. Drain the water before use.
- Add the soaked nuts with melon seeds, poppy seeds and fennel seeds and blend to make a paste by adding 5 table-spoon milk. Keep the paste aside.
- Grind together rose petals, cinnamon and cardamom seeds to make powder. Keep the powder aside.
- In a heavy bottom pan, heat the milk and bring it to a boil.
- Add saffron and stir.
- Now, lower the flame and add the nut paste. Mix thoroughly with the help of a spatula so that no lump should remain.
- Once the paste is properly mixed with the milk, add the spice powder and sugar. Keep the flame low and stir until the sugar is properly dissolved.
- Turn off the flame and let it cool down to room temperature.
- Refrigerate and serve chilled. If you want you can garnish it with chopped nuts, few saffron sticks and chopped rose petals.
Greet your guests with this amazingly tasty Thandai and enjoy the festival of colours with full zeal. Happy Holi everyone!!!
Do drop me a comment giving your feedback about this recipe. You can also tag me on Instagram using the handle @when_a_bong_cooks.