A fragrant spice mix made of nuts, whole spices and aromatics like saffron and rose petals, this easy homemade thandai powder recipe is what you need this Holi
Thandai is quintessentially synonymous with Holi – the festival of colors, in India. It is a drink made of milk mixed with a fragrant spice mix called the thandai powder. The name literally means a cooler that is made and relished for Holi. Normally, the spice blend also has bhaang or cannabis as an ingredient, but I have left it out in my recipe. Besides that, it has got cashews, almonds, melon seeds that give the thandai a rich body. The saffron and dried rose petals lend their lovely aromas to it. The cardamom, black peppercorns and fennel seeds give the drink a delicious kick of spice. So, you see this is a wonderful and beautiful mix of some very amazing ingredients.
While mixing the thandai powder with milk is one of the more popular ways of having it, you could use it in a number of ways. In fact, you could use it to flavor any dessert of your choice. For instance, I’d made a rice pudding for Holi last year and flavored it with the thandai mix. You could flavor, cakes, smoothies, biscuits etc as well. This blender jar recipe is a super quick and easy one. Once you make a batch of it, you can store it up to a month in air tight jars. Give this traditional Holi spice mix a try at home and enjoy some wonderfully fragrant treats. If you try my recipe, do share with me what you made with the thandai powder. You can share your food pictures with me on Instagram and Pinterest. Alternately, you can also share your feedback in the comments section below.
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Thandai powder (thandai masala)
Equipment
- Blender/Mixer
Ingredients
- ¼ cup cashews
- ¼ cup almonds
- ¼ cup dried rose petals
- 2 tbsp black peppercorns
- 2 tbsp fennel seeds
- 2 tbsp green cardamoms
- 2 tbsp melon seeds
- 1 tbsp poppy seeds
- 1 tbsp saffron strands
Instructions
- Grind all the ingredients to a fine powder, in a mixer-grinder, in short pulses. Remove, garnish with saffron strands and dried rose petals and store in air tight jars
Notes
- You can also add pistachios to the thandai spice mix
- 1 cup = 250 millilitres
- tbsp - tablespoon
- tsp - teaspoon
