Recipe - Thandai (A Holi Festival Drink)
A dry-fruits infused thandai is a traditional, milk-based beverage, popular especially in the Central & Northern states of India.
A thandai is traditionally made on the festive occasion of Holi.
This refreshingly cool-drink also has some rich & nutritious ingredients like saffron, almonds, cashew, pistachio, nutritious seeds etc.
2. 12-15 Cashews (unsalted)
4. About 25 whole black peppercorns
7. 1 pinch Saffron (soak it in 2 tsp warm milk for at least 30 mins)
11. 4-5 cups milk (whole fat, boiled & cooled)
14. ½ tsp kewada/khus water
15. Rose Petals for garnish
1. Soak Almonds, cashews & pistachios separately for over 5-6 hours.
2. Soak poppy seeds, fennel seeds & melon seeds separately for over 2 hours. Drain the water and grind the same along with peppercorns& green cardamom.
3. Deskin the almonds and coarsely grind them with cashews, pistachios and raisins.
4. Soak rose petals in plane water, and add rose and kewada/khus water to the same. Keep it soaked for over an hour at least.
5. In a deep bowl, take milk, mix sugar and the ground mix of seeds etc., and also add the coarsely ground dry fruits mix to it. Stir it well, till sugar dissolves in to the milk along with the rest of ground ingredients. Add the saffron milk to it and mix again. This will give a colour to the thandai.
6. Add the rose water & kewada/khus water mix to this.
7. Pour the cool mixture in serving glasses. Top it with soaked rose petals as garnish.
PS: Add a minute/negligible pinch of salt while grinding the seeds & peppercorns. A small pinch of salt, helps to enhance the taste of any sweet dish/drink.