Thandai Recipe (Holi Recipes 2023)

Thandai is a refreshing & cooling Indian beverage mostly made during festivals like HOLI & Maha Shivratri. It is a traditional drink & is much popular in the Northern States of India. This delicious & aromatic coolant is made with nuts, seeds, whole spices and milk. Homemade Thandai is flavorful & delicious than the one made with store bought thandai masala or syrup. Most of these bottled/packed stuff also have additives or preservatives.

If you are new to this drink and wondering what is thandai?

About Thandai

Thandai is a popular North Indian drink made with cooling spices, seeds, nuts, rose petals and milk. The word Thanda translates to cool in Hindi. This beverage is believed to be a coolant as most of the ingredients used have a cooling effect on the body. Hence the name Thandai.

This beverage is made by soaking and blending all of the ingredients to a paste. This flavorful paste is stirred with the milk to make thandai.

Almonds, poppy seeds and melon seeds form the base of this paste. Spices like fennel seeds & cardamoms infuse the flavors.

Holi is no fun without good food! Apart from thandai, Malpua, Samosa, Dahi Vada, Gulab Jamun, Aloo Tikki & many kinds of chaat snacks are enjoyed during this festival of colors.

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How to make Thandai (Stepwise Photos)

Preparation

1. Add 20 almonds, 10 cashews & 15 pistachios to a bowl and rinse them well. Pour water and soak them for a minimum of 4 hours. Alternately you may soak them in hot water for 1 hour. At the same time soak 1½ tablespoons poppy seeds and 1½ tablespoons melon seeds (magaz) in another bowl with little water.

Later peel the skin of the almonds and rinse all the nuts with fresh water. Add the soaked and blanched nuts to a blender/grinder.

2. Drain water from the poppy seeds and magaz seeds. Add them to the grinder. If you do not have a powerful blender then you may soak the poppy seeds separately and make a paste in a mortar & pestle first.

3. Add the following ingredients

• 1½ tablespoon fennel seeds (saunf)
• 4 to 10 black pepper corn (adjust to taste)
• 12 green cardamoms
• 1 inch cinnamon
• 1 pinch saffron (kesar, optional)
• 20 rose petals (or you can alternately use gulkand later like I used)

4. Grind to a coarse paste first. Then pour half cup milk and blend to a smooth paste.

5. The smoother the better. If needed add more milk and blend till smooth.

Make Thandai

6. Bring 1 liter (4 cups) milk to a boil in a pot. Add 5 to 6 tablespoons sugar as per your taste.

7. Turn off the stove and add the ground paste and stir well.

8. Let it cool down. Cover and refrigerate for atleast 4 hours to overnight.

9. Give a good mix and filter the thandai. I prefer using a fine strainer for this.

10. If the nuts are soaked well then all that is left here is only the spices. So no wastage of nuts.

11. We love gulkand in our thandai. So I add about 1 to 1½ teaspoons to each serving cups. Then pour the chilled thandai & give a good mix.

Garnish thandai with sliced nuts & kesar. If you love the flavors of clay pot, then rest it for at least 45 mins to 1 hour.

Here are some tips to make a good thandai.

Pro Tips

Soaking Nuts: Always soak the nuts well before blending to minimize the wastage. Soaked nuts blend well giving the drink a smoother texture. If you do not have time to soak, then at least keep them in hot water for an hour before blending.

I prefer to use a combination of nuts – almonds, cashews and pistachios. But you can also substitute one for the other.

Poppy seeds is one of the key ingredient used to make thandai. If you live in a country where it is not sold, then just replace them with a few cashews. You will get the same creamy taste.

Spices like cardamoms, fennel seeds, cinnamon and black pepper are most commonly used. You may skip black pepper if you do not prefer any warming spices.

Saffron can be skipped or reduced here but we are so much used to the flavors so I always prefer to use it.

Make ahead: It is best to prepare this a night before you intend to serve it as the flavors are better infused.

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