Thandai - Spiced and Flavored Almond Milk

Thandai is a popular Rajasthani chilled drink served in summer to beat the heat and during festivals such as Holi and Sivarathri.
Thandai can be prepared by grinding the nuts and spices to a ground paste or to a fine powder.Today's version is the later one and the recipe is off to the Regional Dishes for the day 2 in Blogging Marathon#35.Here goes the recipe.........

Basic Information

Preparation Time ~ 10 minutes
Cooking Time ~ 20-25 minutes
Serves ~ 2

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
1% Milk	2 cups
Whole milk	3/4 cup
Sugar/sakkarai	5tbs
Saffron/kungumapoo	7-8 strands
Sliced pistacios and almonds	for garnish

For the Powder

Ingredient	Quantity
Almonds/Badam	1/4 cup
Cashews/mundiri	2tbs
Fennel seeds/sombu	1tsp
Black pepper/milagu	10-12
Poppy seeds/kasa kasa	11/2tsp
Cardamom/ellakai	5-6

Method

Boil the milk in a medium flame for 10 minutes,meanwhile keep all the ingredients given for the powder in a microwave safe bowl and heat it the microwave for couple of minutes to get crisp.Grind it to a fine powder in a blender.

Once the milk is boiled add the sugar and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes,add the saffron and put of the flame.Now add the ground nuts and spice powder to the milk and mix it well.After it comes to the room temperature,refrigerate it for 2-3 hours.

Strain the milk,garnish it with finely sliced nuts and serve.

Enjoy...........................................

• Rose water can be added for extra flavor and melon seeds can also be used along with nuts.
• The amount of sugar given is perfect,if you want it more sweeter you can increase.
• Here I used both 1% and whole milk,you can use whole milk for extra rich taste.