Thandai is a traditional cooling Holi drink in India which is full of flavours and gives an instant boost of energy. Thandai is made with the mix of dry nuts, seeds, fragrant spices, and milk. This recipe is very easy and is loaded with nutrition. There are two ways to make Thandai – traditional method with boiled milk or instant method. I have shared both the recipes below. This summer drink has tremendous health benefits – click here to read more on Thandai’s health benefits
Ingredients for Thandai Drink
- 2 cups – Whole Cow Milk or Full Fat Coconut Milk or Any Dairy-Free Milk
- 2 teaspoon – Mishri or Khadisakhar(also known as Rock Sugar), (adjust quantity according to the taste) OR 1 tablespoon – Dates Paste
- ½ teaspoon – Saffron strands
Ingredients for Thandai Masala
- 6 pieces – Almonds, unsalted
- 8 pieces – Pistachios, unsalted
- 6 pieces – Cashews, unsalted
- ½ tablespoon – Melon seeds (if not available add pumpkin seeds)
- ½ teaspoon – Poppy seeds
- 1 teaspoon – Fennel seeds (Whole Saunf)
- 4 pieces – Black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon – Cardamom Powder or 2 whole cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon – Cinnamon powder
- ¼ teaspoon – Nutmeg Powder
- Few dried rose petals or Gulkand
Traditional Recipe
Method
Step 1
Preparing Thandai Masala - Soak almonds, pistachio, cashew, melon, fennel seeds and poppy seeds in water for 4 hours or overnight. Wash and drain off the excess water from nuts and blend soaked nuts with 3 tablespoon milk using a Vitamix or blender to a fine thick paste
Step 2
Also, grind dry spices – Cardamom, cinnamon, peppercorn, nutmeg and Rose petals in a dry blending jar. Keep this powder aside for later use.
Step 3
Preparing Thandai Drink – In a saucepan, add milk and bring it to a rolling boil. After one boil, lower the heat; add sugar and Saffron strands. Keep stirring the milk continuously to avoid burning or sticking of milk at the bottom of the pan.
Step 4
Now add Thandai Masala (both the nuts paste and spice powder) to boiling saffron milk. Simmer milk for 5 more minutes stirring it continuously.
Step 5
Transfer the Thandai milk to a jar; let it cool completely and then refrigerate for a couple of hours.
Step 6
Garnish this cool & fragrant Thandai with chopped pistachios, Rose petals, and Saffron strands
Instant Recipe
- Dry roast above mentioned “Thandai Masala” ingredients.
- Grind the roasted nuts and spices to fine powder and keep it aside.
- In a blender/Vitamix, pour chilled coconut milk and add 2-3 tablespoon of Thandai Masala and blend it.
- Serve this cool Thandai with extra garnish of nuts and rose petals
Notes
- Sugar substitute: You can add 2-3 dates instead of sugar
- Quicker Version: If you don’t have time to soak nuts, you can directly grind nuts and spices to make a fine powder. Add 2-3 tablespoon of powder to milk and let it cool in the refrigerator for half an hour.
- Kids: Grind the Thandai paste very finely and then add to the milk. Before serving it to kids please strain the milk
- Read amazing health benefits of this Thandai recipe