Holi, the festival of colors is just a couple of days away. And being so far from home here in Sydney, I am going to miss the fun of playing Holi with my friends this year. Every year I look forward to this Indian festival, even more than Diwali. Like every other Indian festival, you get to eat a lot of delicious food both sweet and savory on Holi. But it is the excitement of playing with colors with your friends which makes it even more special. I don’t have access to that this year but the least I can do is make some festive food, share it with mates at work and celebrate it. And of course, Holi can’t be complete without having some homemade Thandai. So here I am with this Thandai recipe. I tried this a couple of years ago and ever since I have been making this quintessential Holi drink and everyone enjoys it a lot! But the other day a friend back home in India asked me if I had the recipe on my blog so that she can make it. I realized that I never posted this recipe on the blog, though I had the pictures archived on my laptop somewhere. So what could be a better time to post it and share it with you all too!
- 50 gm almonds
- 50 gm cashew
- 20 whole black peppercorns
- 20 green cardamom
- 2 tbsp white poppy seeds
- 2 tbsp fennel seeds
- 2 tbsp melon seeds
- 2 tbsp edible dry rose petals
- 1/2 tsp saffron
- 2 litre milk
- 1/4 cup sugar, adjust as per your liking
- Add all the ingredients except milk and sugar in grinder and grind together to make a coarse powder. The thandai powder prepared in step can be stored in a container in fridge for several days to be used later.
- Add the powder and sugar to milk in a saucepan and give it a gentle boil. Chill in fridge overnight and let the flavours infuse into the milk.
- Serve chilled with extra ice.