Thandai– An Indian milk beverage

 

Thandai is a traditional indian beverage made with milk and flavored with various spices. It’s mostly made in the northern part of India and is specially popular during the festival of Holi. Back home, it would be available as a concentrate in bottles just like we get hershey’s chocolate syrup here. In the hot summers of northern India, thandai was a popular drink. This holi I wanted to make a drink for our guests and figured what better drink on holi than thandai! I

Ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups full- fat milk (I used 1/2 cup cream and 4 cups 2% milk)
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar (I misunderstood this to be confectioner’s sugar which is way less sweet. So I ended up using around 1 cup confectioner’s sugar)
• a pinch of freshly ground black pepper (optional)
• a few saffron strands (optional)

To Be Blended Into A Fine Powder
1/4 cup almonds
2 tbsp poppy seeds
2 tbsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
20 whole white peppercorns

Method

1. If you’re not using pasteurized milk then boil the milk in a deep non-stick pan, allow it to cool completely.
2. Combine the prepared powder and milk in a deep bowl, mix well using a whisk and refrigerate for 2 hours.
3. Strain the mixture through a strainer, add the sugar, pepper powder and saffron and mix well.
4. Pour equal quantities of the thandai into 4 individual glasses and serve chilled.