Thandai
This sweet, milky drink flavored with nuts and warm spices is traditionally served on Holi, the Indian festival of colors.
- Serves
4–6
- Time
20 minutes, plus soaking and chilling
While growing up in India, thandai was the forbidden delight of Holi—the colorful Indian spring festival where friends, family, and even strangers hurl clouds of pink, green, and yellow powders at each other and spray jets of colorful water. On any other day of the year, thandai, literally translated as “something that cools,” is just a sweet, creamy drink flavored with almonds, pistachios, and cashews to boost immunity; spices like fennel, pepper, cardamom to aid digestion; rose petals for detoxification; milk to strengthen bones; and poppy seeds and melon seeds to lift spirits. But on Holi, when the refreshment is served as a way to cool off after playing in the hot sun, it traditionally comes with the addition of bhang (a derivative of marijuana)—a single ingredient that not only turns thandai into a truly merry drink, but also made it a whole lot more exciting (and forbidden) for my teenage self.
Every Holi, as I would step out dressed in my throwaways and ready for a day of colorful revelry—pockets stuffed with packets of powdered colors, a bag of water-filled balloons in one hand and a water gun in the other—my mother would admonish me in her severest of tones to stay away from thandai. And I would. But the next day at school, I would hear classmates boast about how much more they had enjoyed the festivities after downing a glass of thandai with bhang, and my own Holi fun would feel somehow diminished. As with all things forbidden, bhang thandai’s delights took on mythic proportions in my head. I would imagine how creamy and nutty it must taste, how refreshing it must feel, and most of all, what a kick it must give. I’d resolve to disobey my mother next Holi, but I never did.
More than two decades have now passed, and while I no longer live in India, I still have fond memories of playing with colors and water on Holi. Instead of the bhang I once longed to try, I add a few ounces of gin to the batch of thandai I make for my friends. The aromatic spirit accentuates the floral flavors of thandai beautifully and gives it a slight kick—thandai that’s not forbidden but still very much a delight.
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup raw whole almonds
- 3 Tbsp. melon seeds (from ½ cantaloupe)
- 3 Tbsp. poppy seeds
- 2 Tbsp. raw cashew halves
- 1 Tbsp. plus 1½ tsp. raw shelled pistachios
- 4 cups whole milk
- 1½ cups sugar
- A few saffron threads (optional)
- 1 tsp. fennel seeds
- 10 green cardamom pods
- 10 black peppercorns
- One 1-in. cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
- 20 organic edible rose petals, plus more for garnish
- 8 oz. gin
- ¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
Instructions
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- To a medium bowl, add the almonds, melon seeds, poppy seeds, cashews, pistachios, and 2 cups of water. Set aside to soak for 1 hour.
- Remove and discard the skins from the almonds and pistachios. Drain the nuts and seeds and set aside.
- In a small pot, bring the milk to a boil. Stir in the sugar and saffron if desired until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
- To a small skillet over medium heat, add the fennel, cardamom, peppercorns, and cinnamon and toast until fragrant, about 4 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then transfer to a food processor. Add the rose petals, nut mixture, and 1 tablespoon of the milk mixture and process to a smooth paste. Whisk the paste into the remaining milk mixture, then pour through a fine-mesh strainer into a medium bowl, pressing on the solids. Discard the solids. Refrigerate the milk mixture until chilled.
- Stir the gin into the milk mixture and divide among glasses. Garnish with the nutmeg and more rose petals.
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