This cooling, refreshing homemade thandai recipe is super easy to make. This traditional Indian cold drink is made with various nuts and spices mixed with milk. It’s perfect for festivals like Holi and Maha Shivratri.
Here I’m sharing 2 methods: how to make a thandai drink instantly as well as a thandai syrup recipe.
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What Is Thandai?
Thandai is a popular North Indian drink and is originally prepared during Maha Shivratri along with another drink bhaang (a potent version of thandai).
Thandai drink is also prepared during the Holi festival (which falls a few weeks after Maha Shivratri) along with many other Holi recipes.
These two festivals fall in a season where it’s late winter and the arrival of summer in India. This thandai drink will prepare your body to transition from winter to summer. E.g. black peppercorn in this beverage warms your body for that little bit of cold left for late winter. On other hand, fennel seeds, poppy seeds, and gulkand in this beverage will cool your body against the rising temperature of summer.
The Hindi word ‘Thand’ from the name thandai translates to cool/cold. As the name says, this drink has a cooling effect on your body.
Apart from cooling down your body, it has many other great benefits like giving you energy, boosting immunity, and promoting easy digestion.
❤️ You'll Love This Thandai Recipe
- Super easy: It requires some pre-planning and looks time-consuming but active time is very less. You’ll need to just soak, grind and prepare the drink.
- Save for later: I have shown a step further to prepare a thandai syrup that can be stored for months in the refrigerator. So you can make the thandai recipe instantly as needed throughout the summer.
- Make a large batch for parties: This recipe is easily scalable to prepare for a crowd without taking too much of your time.
🧾Ingredient Notes
Here is the pic of the ingredients you’ll need to make thandai recipe and/or thandai syrup.
- Nuts: you’ll need almonds, cashews and pistachios. Instead of pistachios, you can add more cashews.
- Seeds: Melon seeds (aka magaj tari or char magaz) and poppy seeds (Indian khas-khas) are used.
- Spices: Fennel seeds (cooling & aromatic), cardamoms (aromatic) and peppercorns (warming) are used.
- Saffron: It adds a nice flavor and color.
- Gulkand (Rose petal jam): It adds a unique fresh flavor with a nice aroma. Gulkand has cooling properties.
- Sugar: It adds sweetness to this cold drink.
- Milk: I recommend using whole milk (full-fat). But for some reason, if you need to then you can use low-fat or fat-free milk as well.
👩🍳 How To make Thandai? (Stepwise Photos)
1) Take almonds and pistachios in one bowl, add ½ cup of water and soak for 6-8 hours or overnight.
2) Take the rest ingredients (cashews, melon seeds, khaskhas, fennel seeds, green cardamoms, black peppercorns) in another bowl along with ½ cup of water. Soak for 6-8 hours or overnight.
3) After the soaking time, drain the soaking water from the almond, and pistachio bowl, and remove and discard the skin of the almonds and pistachios.
4) Add those to the blender jar along with soaked cashews, and spices. Also, add gulkand, another ½ cup of water to help in the grinding process. (NOTE: If making a drink right away from the paste then add saffron here in the grinder.)
5) Make a smooth paste out of it.
Make Thandai Drink Instantly Using Paste:
- Heat up around 6 cups of milk until it starts boiling.
- Add around ½ cup of sugar and prepared paste.
- Mix well and taste test for sweetness. If needed add more.
- Let the milk cool down to room temperature and then chill in the refrigerator.
- At the time of serving, strain the milk and press down the solids into the strainer to extract all the flavorful milk. Serve thandai chilled.
How To Make Thandai Syrup? (Stepwise Photos)
1) Take sugar, saffron and water in a large pan.
2) Let the mixture come to a simmer on medium heat.
3) Add prepared paste.
4) Mix really well and bring the mixture to a simmer.
5) As soon as it starts simmering, lower the heat to low-medium.
6) Keep stirring so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. As it keeps simmering, the mixture starts to froth up a lot.
7) Keep simmering for around 20 minutes. It starts to get darker in color. During the simmering process if the mixture becomes too thick then add some hot water and continue cooking.
8) After around 20 minutes if your drizzle the syrup back from the spoon, you will find its sticky and syrup consistency. That time thandai syrup is ready, turn off the stove.
Let the syrup cool down to room temperature. Then store in an airtight container.
Make Thandai Drink Using Thandai Syrup:
1) Mix around 2-3 tablespoons of syrup in cold milk.
2) Whisk it until well combined, and serve with a garnish of rose petals and saffron strands.
💭Expert Tips
- Skip adding black peppercorns if making this drink for the summer season.
- Don’t find gulkand? Add some rose water and dried rose petals.
- Pre-plan: Keep in mind that this recipe requires soaking time (6 hours or overnight), and milk chilling time (at least 3-4 hours). So If making for a party then soak the nuts 2 days before. Keep the milk ready in the fridge a day before.
- You can make thandai powder instead and keep it in the refrigerator to make an instant thandai drink.
🥣 Storage Instructions
- The prepared paste can be stored in the fridge for 2 days in an airtight container or glass jar.
- The prepared thandai drink can be made a day before and kept overnight in the fridge. Actually, it is recommended to make it a day before as the flavor from the paste has time to infuse the milk.
- Thandai syrup can be stored in an airtight glass jar or container for 3-4 months. Use a clean and dry spoon to take the required syrup out of it to maintain the shelf-life.
Check Out Other Indian Beverages
Did you try this thandai recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Leave a review in the comment section below.
📋 Recipe Card
Thandai Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Almonds
- 2 tablespoons Pistachios
- 2 tablespoons Cashew nuts
- 2 tablespoons Melon seeds (magajtari, char magaz)
- 2 tablespoons Khas khas (White poppy seeds)
- 1 tablespoons Fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon Black peppercorns
- 8 Green cardamoms
- ½ + ½ cup Water for soaking
- 2 tablespoons Gulkand
- 18-20 strands Saffron
- 6 cups Milk and sugar to make drink
To Make Thandai Syrup:
- 1 cup Sugar
- 2 cups Water
Instructions
Make Thandai Paste:
- Take almonds and pistachios in one bowl, add ½ cup of water and soak for 6-8 hours or overnight.
- Take the rest ingredients (cashews, melon seeds, khaskhas, fennel seeds, green cardamoms, black peppercorns) in another bowl along with ½ cup of water. Soak for 6-8 hours or overnight.
- After the soaking time, drain the soaking water from almond, pistachio bowl, and remove and discard the skin of the almonds and pistachios.
- Add those to the blender jar along with soaked cashews, and spices. Also, add gulkand, another ½ cup of water to help in the grinding process. (NOTE: If making a drink right away from the paste then add saffron here in the grinder.) Make a smooth paste out of it.
Make Thandai Drink Instantly Using Paste:
- Heat up around 6 cups of milk until it starts boiling.
- Add around ½ cup of sugar and prepared paste.
- Mix well and taste test for sweetness. If needed add more.
- Let the milk cool down to room temperature and then chill in the refrigerator.
- At the time of serving, strain the milk and press down the solids into the strainer to extract all the flavorful milk. Serve chilled.
Make Thandai Syrup:
- Take sugar, saffron and water in a large pan. Let the mixture come to a simmer on medium heat.
- Add prepared paste. Mix well and bring the mixture to a simmer.
- As soon as it starts simmering, lower the heat to low-medium.
- Keep stirring so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. As it keeps simmering, the mixture starts to froth up a lot.
- Keep simmering for around 20 minutes. It starts to get darker in color. During the simmering process if the mixture becomes too thick then add some hot water and continue cooking.
- After around 20 minutes if your drizzle the syrup back from the spoon, you will find its sticky and syrup consistency. That time thandai syrup is ready, turn off the stove and let it cool down to room temperature. Then store in an airtight container.
- To make a drink. mix around 2-3 tablespoons of syrup in cold milk. Whisk it until well combined, and serve with a garnish of rose petals and saffron strands.
Notes
- Skip adding black peppercorns if making this drink for the summer season.
- Don’t find gulkand? Add some rose water and dried rose petals.
- Pre-plan: Keep in mind that this recipe requires soaking time (6 hours or overnight), and milk chilling time (at least 3-4 hours). So If making for a party then soak the nuts 2 days before. Keep the milk ready in the fridge a day before.
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