Turmeric milk or haldi doodh is a traditional Indian ayurvedic drink recipe and it has been used for centuries to aid digestion, promote good night's sleep, calm the nervous system, reduce inflammation, and improve immunity.
This is also known by fancy names like golden milk or turmeric latte.
❤️About This Recipe
What is Haldi Doodh?
Haldi=Turmeric and Doodh=Milk.
Traditionally, haldi doodh is made with 3 ingredients: milk, turmeric powder and black pepper. For kids, sugar is added as a 4th ingredient.
Sometimes other spices like ground ginger (sonth), nutmeg (jaifal), and cinnamon are added while making turmeric milk.
Nowadays people make haldi doodh with a mixture of spices to make it tastes better. But it doesn’t work like that. Depending on for what purpose you’re drinking haldi doodh, you should add that spice only. See details below in the ingredients notes section.
When To Consume Turmeric Milk?
- The best time to have turmeric milk is before your bedtime and 1 ½ -2 hours after dinner. So if you’re planning to have haldi doodh at night, you should have dinner around 8 pm. And ideally, you should drink your haldi doodh before 10 pm. This prompts a good night's sleep and will repair your body during your sleep cycle.
- You can have turmeric milk every night throughout the year. Change the spices according to the season.
- You can have a glass of it as a snack between meals during winter months only.
- Always have hot or warm turmeric milk to get the maximum benefits from it.
🧾Ingredients & Health Benefits
Here is a pic of the ingredients you’ll need to make an authentic turmeric milk recipe.
Cow’s Milk: Always use full-fat, grass-fed whole milk.
- It is highly nutritious and a good source of animal protein for vegetarians. And milk is a powerful source of immunity when properly prepared.
- By nature, milk is sweet, heavy, and cold. These properties increase when you have cold milk. You may have heard Americans saying milk is not easily digestible for adults because they have been consuming cold milk with cereal or a glass of cold milk with cookies or meals or in milkshakes. Cold milk is heavy, difficult to digest and becomes congestive and mucus forming.
- Warming or boiling the cow’s milk is a must to increase digestibility.
Turmeric powder: Curcumin is the main active ingredient in turmeric. Curcumin prevents inflammation in the body and helps you go healthy a long way. There are many other benefits of haldi and you can google about it. If I write here it will be a lengthy post.
Black pepper: It enhances the absorption of curcumin in the body. Curcumin is easily metabolized in the body and has not much left for absorption. But when it is combined with black pepper, the ‘piperine’ compound found in pepper prevents curcumin from being metabolized easily and helps in absorption in the body.
Other spices added based on the needs of your body & season:
- Nutmeg: Add if you have blood pressure issues, heart issues, or joint pain.
- Ginger: Add in winter months only. It helps to relieve indigestion and reduce the chances of catching a cold or relieve you if you already have a cough and sneezing problem.
- Cinnamon: Added for lowering blood sugar levels and reducing insulin sensitivity.
- Cardamom: Added to enhance the flavor.
Sugar: It is optional. But kids can be fussy if haldi doodh is given to them without sweetener. So I would add a teaspoon of sugar per glass of milk for them. Sugar in the right quantity is actually medicinal and supportive to the mind and body.
- You can use maple syrup as a sweetener.
- Do not use honey. As per Ayurveda honey is toxic to your body when heated up or added to hot food/beverage.
👩🍳Step By Step Photo Instructions
- Take milk in a saucepan and turn the heat to medium.
- Add sugar, turmeric powder and black pepper, and mix well.
- Bring the milk to a boil and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes only.
- Strain it into a serving cup.
- Discard the remaining pulp.
- Serve haldi doodh hot or warm.
💭Expert Tips
- Always make it fresh and drink it hot/warm. It hardly takes 5 minutes to make, so never make a big batch and store it.
- Straining turmeric milk is optional. I do it as my kids don’t like to consume the pasty part that settles at the bottom.
- You can make it vegan by using vegan milk but it defeats the purpose of consuming turmeric milk. When milk, turmeric and pepper all three combine together then it is beneficial to your body.
- You can use dried turmeric root instead of powder. If so rinse it thoroughly and grate it using a microplate zester and use it in the recipe.
- You can use fresh turmeric root, if so grate it and add it to the milk and let it simmer for a little longer and strain it.
Check Out Other Similar Recipes
Did you try this haldi doodh recipe (turmeric milk)? I’d love to hear about it! Leave a review in the comment section below.
Turmeric Milk (Haldi Doodh)
Ingredients
- 2 cups Milk full fat or whole milk
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon Black pepper powder
- 2 teaspoon Sugar
Instructions
- Take milk in a saucepan and turn the heat to medium.
- Add sugar, turmeric powder and black pepper, mix well.
- Bring the milk to a boil and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes only.
- Strain it into a serving cup. Discard the remaining pulp.
- Serve haldi doodh hot or warm.
Notes
- Nutmeg: Add if you have blood pressure issues, heart issues, or joint pain.
- Ginger: Add in winter months only. It helps to relieve indigestion and reduce the chances of catching a cold or relieve you if you already have a cough and sneezing problem.
- Cinnamon: Added for lowering blood sugar levels and reducing insulin sensitivity.
- Cardamom: Added to enhance the flavor.
- Always make it fresh and drink it hot/warm. It hardly takes 5 minutes to make, so never make a big batch and store it.
- Straining turmeric milk is optional. I do it as my kids don’t like to consume the pasty part that settles at the bottom.
- You can make it vegan by using vegan milk but it defeats the purpose of consuming turmeric milk. When milk, turmeric and pepper all three combine together then it is beneficial to your body.
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