Kesariya Thandai

I have started to involve my son into minor cooking activities because when I didn’t, he pulled a stunt that would have been hilarious if someone else’s kid did it but was an absolute nightmare when my own did it. The other day, he opened my container of flour and poured water in it. 😯 If that wasn’t bad enough, he jumped into it and started to knead it…..with his feet. After being shocked, speechless and very angry with him, I asked him why he did that? He said he was trying to make a cake batter just like Oswald, the octopus! I felt like pulling my hair out! He didn’t learn that Oswald is not naughty, he is helpful and eats his fruits and vegetables without complain but he had to learn the cake kneading thing out of all things!! So, off went Oswald on an indefinite vacation and won’t be returning anytime soon. These days he is watching shapes and colors and phonetics. Let’s see how safe are they and for how long?

I love Thandai. It is the queen of all cold beverages for me, for sure. There is something special about chilled milk mixed with the goodness of almonds, saffron and spices and to add cherry on the cake, it is very healthy with cooling properties. These days, with the availability of so many ready to drink sugary “drink mixes”, I hardly hear people drinking Thandai in summers, specially a home-made one. The store-bought Thandai is so sugary that I have stopped buying it altogether. This version of Thandai is so easy to make that you will not go back to the store-bought one. No Bollywood Holi song is complete without Thandai laced with Bhang. And even though this is just plain Thandai, you will still want to drink glasses after glasses of it.

Yum

Kesariya Thandai

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 115 gms almonds
• 250 ml water
• 250 gms sugar
• 1-2 generous pinch saffron
For the mix
• 4 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
• 3 1/2 tsp poppy seeds
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• 1/4 cup edible organic red rose petals
• 35 gms watermelon seeds or charmagaz

Instructions

1. Soak Almonds in water overnight and peel their skin off the next day. Make a very fine paste.
2. Take the mix ingredients - fennel seeds, black peppercorns, poppy seeds, rose petals, watermelon seeds or charmagaz and soak in water separately for 3-4 hours. Make a very fine paste of it too.
3. In another pan take water and sugar and let it boil.
4. After first boil, add the mix and let it boil for a few minutes.
5. Add almond paste at this time.
6. After 5-10 minutes add saffron and cardamom powder to it.
7. Boil it till it thickens and then turn off the stove. Let it cool down. It will thicken more after it cools down. The consistency of the Thandai will be like thick cake batter.
8. Fill the liquid into a bottle and refrigerate.
9. Take a glass of chilled milk and add about 2 spoonful (or as per your taste) of Thandai mix to it and enjoy!!

Notes

If you increase the amount of sugar then increase the quantity of water too in same proportion.

You can substitute rose petals with 3 tsp rose water. Just add it towards the end with saffron.

It is very important to make a very fine paste of the mix. If the paste is not fine, you will have to sieve it after the fourth step. Once you add the almond paste, you will not to be able to do much. A coarse mix will settle down at the bottom of your glass of milk and won't impart any flavor to your Thandai.

It is also very important to bring the Thandai to the right consistency. If the mixture is runny, it will go bad fast.

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