Thandai is an ancient Indian recipe, made with a nutritious blend of various nuts, seeds, and spices, mixed in milk, traditionally consumed during Holi, the festival of colors. The Thandai masala paste or powder is traditionally made using mortar & pestle. As in any ancient recipe, Thandai has a ton of healthy medicinal properties. In olden times in India, each of the recipes used to have ingredients which had some or the other health benefits and medicinal properties. Thandai falls under that category. It truly is a mix of superfoods.
You can use either Method 1 or Method 2 to prepare Thandai. I prefer Method 1, as it has a longer shelf-life.
Method 1: By making a Thandai Powder
Dry roast each of the ingredients listed under 'Ingredients for Thandai Masala Mix', separately.
Once it cools down, make the Thandai masala mix powder using either mortar & pestle or a grinder. Store the Thandai powder in an airtight jar. This will stay fresh in the refrigerator for several weeks.
Heat as many cups of almond milk as the number of people you want to serve. Add one teaspoon of sugar (optional) per cup of milk. Add saffron strands and bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat.
Add 1 tablespoon of Thandai powder in the milk per serving. Mix well. Let it cool down and then put it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to chill.
Once the Thandai is chilled, mix again. Serve it in glasses, garnish it with saffron, chopped pistachios, and dried rose petals. Enjoy!
Method 2: By making a Thandai Paste
Dry roast each of the ingredients listed under 'Ingredients for Thandai Masala Mix', separately.
Soak all of the above in 1 cup of milk and keep it aside for 4 hours. After 4 hours, grind it into a Thandai paste.
Heat 6 cups of almond milk. Add one teaspoon of sugar (optional) per cup of milk. Add saffron strands and bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat.
Mix the Thandai paste into the milk. Let it cool down and then put it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to chill.
Once the Thandai is chilled, mix again. Serve it in glasses, garnish it with saffron, chopped pistachios, and dried rose petals. Enjoy!
Notes
The difference between the powder method and the paste method is that the powder will have a longer shelf-life as you can keep it in the refrigerator and use it as needed over a few weeks. Whereas the paste does not last that long and hence advisable to make all of the Thandai within 1-2 days.
The powder method also does not require 4 hours of pre-soaking.
The batch size can be adjusted using the slider in the recipe card. I made double the batch this time.
You may skip the sugar by adding any other sweetener.