Ingredients [serves 4]
- 4 cups of whole milk (substitute with low-fat/almond milk/soy milk)
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup almonds
- 1/4 cup unsalted cashews
- 4 tbsp pumpkin seeds [or melon seeds if available]
- 2 tsp white poppy seeds [available in indian stores under the name ‘Khus-Khus‘ or ‘Posto‘]
- 2 tsp whole black peppercorns [adjust to taste]
- 7-8 green whole cardamom pods
- 2 tsp fennel seeds [or aniseed]
- 1 tbsp rosewater [use 1-2 drops if using rose essence]
- pinch of saffron dissolved with 1 tbsp of warm milk
- 4-5 fresh mint leaves [don’t use too many else drink will turn bitter]
- Sugar to taste
- Nuts and ice cubes [optional] for garnish
Method:
- Soak almonds,cashews, fennel, poppy, pumpkin seeds, cardamom & black peppercorn in enough water overnight or for at least 5-6 hours.
- Once soaked, drain the water and discard it.
- Tip in the soaked nuts& spices along with rosewater and mint leaves in a blender and grind to a smooth paste.
- At this point, refrigerate the paste if you want to use it later.The paste keeps fresh for 4-5 days,refrigerated.
- For making the Thandai: Tip in the milk, cream,dissolved saffron along with sugar to the taste in a blender on smoothie mode and churn for 3-4 minutes on high till everything comes together.
- Pour into glasses, garnish with nuts and serve chilled.
Variations :
- You can use the cold milk mixture to make a thandai ice- cream.
- Blend it with lots of ice and 2-3 tbsp condensed milk and make a smoothie.Adjust sugar in that case.
Enjoy ! Happy Holi Everyone!
Oh, look those glasses: so beautifully served!
beautifully presented Tanvi. love this authentic recipe and your set of glasses.
Happy Holi Dear.
What a great drink. I like the idea of making this into an ice cream as well, that would be really perfect on a hot day.
Just finished writing the post for Thandai 🙂 and here you are already serving us this refreshing drink. Lovely clicks, Tanvi!
the second pic looks gorgeous tanvi n i had no idea it was holi:(
Same Pinch dear 🙂 I also posted Thandai today 🙂 Adding mint sounds nice here. Love this with crushed ice. Lovely photos dear…Nice glass set
Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi
Happy holi wishes Tanvi, quite a delicious,elegant,flavourful and rich looking thandai..Beautiful glasses..
Thanks for that info on Holi, I’ve never heard of that holiday before. I found it to be really interesting, especially the part about the cannabis plant!! The thandai looks lovely. I’ve never tasted that before. We have a lot of indian markets near where I live – I’d love to go to one on Sunday to get some thandai but the LA Marathon is also on Sunday so a lot of roads will be closed.
Happy holi Tanvi..Thadai looks so fresh and cool..Loved the mint in it.
Cute serving galsses:)
Thandai looks delicious, now i become fan of it. Happy Holi to you and your family.
looks soo yummy!!!! and i love the garnish 🙂
Gosh lovely pictures!! Very happy Holi Tanvi may be you have a colourful year ahead and Thandai slurp 😀
First of all the pics are fantastic , u really put in ur heart there and i love that.
V v pretty.
Love all the amazing combi of ingredients that go in there !
U excel always.
Happy Holi, Very rich and refreshing drink…
Oh how delicious. I know I’d go crazy for this. I’m a big fan of lassis, and although its not the same thing, I really appreciate the spices you’ve used, and I love the use of cream instead of yogurt, so decadent 😉
Have a wonderful weekend.
*kisses* HH
Lovely presentation looks yumm!
lovely post Tanvi must be fun to be in India at this time, only watched in movies I hear you on Japan hard to watch news makes me cry as well
I love the glasses & presentation Tanvi 🙂 Thandai sounds awesome.
Tanvi, that looks wonderful!! How’ve you been –just got back from my India trip—looking fwd to catching up with all your wonderful recipes and posts!
Happy holi!!!
Thanks everyone for the sweet comments.You guys make me happy:)
Oh wow Tanvi!!! This time you have out did yourself with these shots. To me Thandai has never looked so beautiful. Each shot is better than the other 🙂
This looks so lovely and refreshing! I’d love to try this!
Holi is one of my favorite Indian holidays…so many delicious desserts…it’s just a ton of fun!
These thandai look delicious. Better than your average milkshake, that’s for sure!
The glasses are superb and so is the smoothie. I would love to try it!
Happy Holi Day! So interesting to read about this Hindi custom- sounds like a fun tradition. And Thandai sounds delicious!
Ok, I realize this is going to sound so very American of me, but I saw this festival on The Amazing Race and thought it looked like so much fun! I know, I know, I’m a goofy reality tv junky. They didn’t have a glass of this featured though and they definitely should have. It looks so delicious and refreshing! I’m with Katerina as well. Love the glasses!
I’m going to have to make this for my husband, who is crazy about masala chai. This is going to be so nice and refreshing in the summer. Can’t wait to try it! Love your beautiful photos.
This looks so delicious and I so love learning about cultures and foods different than my own. Thank you so much for sharing the traditions and the recipe. What a fresh and beautiful drink for Spring.
The thandai drink got a glorious look in these pretty tall glasses! We never celebrated in our area, Holi.
Wish you a Happy Holi!
This looks and sounds fantastic…Gorgeous photos!
Your glasses are so exotic and your photographs so enticing. The flavours in the recipe sound really delicious – exotic and unfamiliar, but delicious. I loved hearing about the traditions around this holy festival. I have seen movies and pictures of people smearing tumeric all over their bodies and each others. That must be from this holiday!
🙂
Valerie
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Love ur presentation… So cool:-)
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