This recipe guides you through making homemade Thandai Masala powder, a fragrant spice blend, and then using it to prepare a traditional Indian cooling drink called Thandai with milk and sugar. You can choose to blend it cold or boil the milk for a deeper infusion.
To make Thandai Masala: Heat a pan and then take it off the stove. Dry roast all the nuts (almonds, pistachios, cashews) and seeds (fennel, black peppercorns, poppy seeds) on the hot pan just enough to remove any moisture. Once completely cooled, add all the dry roasted nuts and seeds along with the dry rose petals, ground cinnamon, nutmeg powder, and cardamom powder to a grinder. Grind it into a fine powder. Transfer the masala into an airtight jar and store it in the refrigerator.
To make Thandai (Option 1 - Cold Blend): Simply add 1 tablespoon of Thandai Masala, 1 cup of whole milk, and sugar to taste into a food blender. Blend until smooth. Serve over ice, garnished with a few saffron strands and dry edible rose petals.
To make Thandai (Option 2 - Boiled Infusion): Add 1 tablespoon of Thandai Masala and sugar to taste into 1 cup of whole milk. Let it come to a boil. Now, cool it down completely. Once cooled, add the mixture into a blender and blend until smooth. Serve over ice, garnished with a few saffron strands and dry edible rose petals. Boiling the milk helps the Thandai Masala infuse into the milk very well.
