Thandai

 Thandai is a popular drink  made in North India during holi.   As  I am South Indian, we don't have a custom of celebrating holi. But I adore this festival as Holi is festival of colours.  So my husband  and me  are planning  to celebrate this festival in pune next year. This year I made thandai and we  tasted it for a very first time

    Coming to thandai... It is  chilled milk with almonds and  some spices.  I love to have flavourful chilled milk. Spices used in thandai made me eager to taste and   i can't control myself  during chilling time.  I enjoyed every sip of thandai. It is so delicious. 

Here is the recipe...

Ingredients:

Milk  - 2 cups or 500 ml

Sugar - 2 tbsp

Saffron - few strands

Pistachio - 6 nos (finely choped)

To grind:

Almond - 20 nos

Poppy seeds (khus khus) - 1 tsp

Fennel - 1 tsp

Black pepper - 10 nos

Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp

Method:

1. Take all the ingredients listed under " To grind"  in a bowl and soak it in a warm water for about 30 mins.

2. Peel the skin of almonds and grind it  to the fine paste along with the other ingredients. 

3. Take  2 cups of milk in a pan . Bring it to boil. When it boils , switch off the stove . Add sugar and mix well

4. Now take a tbsp of warm milk in a small bowl and add saffron strands to it. After a minutes , add the soaked saffron and grinded paste to the boiled milk.

5. Mix well and Keep aside  for 30 mins . So that spices will be  blend well  with milk.  Now filter the milk and discard the residue.

6. Cool the milk  by keeping it in the refrigerator for more than one hour. Chop the pistachios finely .

Pour the milk in the serving glass top up with chopped pistachios and saffron strands.

Now delicious and flavoured thandai is ready to serve.

Have a wonderful Holi  with glass of chilled  Thandai

Notes:

• Give some resting time to milk after adding grinded spice paste. So that spices will be blend well with tthe milk.
• You can also add rose essence  to the milk before refigerating it.
• You can also add dried rose petals at the time of serving. 
• Always serve chilled. It tastes best only whent it is chilled.