Thandai

Dry Fruits Thandai Drink is a traditional Indian beverage popular in North Indian states of UP and Rajasthan and made especially for the festival of Holi. It is quite refreshing to drink and is loaded with some rich ingredients like dry fruits, seeds, and saffron.

Here are some more Drinks, that you can make during festivals – Mango Mastani, Lassi, Mohabbat Ka Sharbat, Kulukki, and Rose Lassi.

About This Recipe

Thandai is a traditional drink popular in UP and some parts of Rajasthan. It has a cooling effect on the body and hence the name Thandai.

Prepared with milk and a lot of dry fruits, this drink is very refreshing, and a perfect summer cooler.

It was traditionally made with a dose of Bhang (Weed) in it. Even today, some people add the weed in it to make it intoxicating.

My mom used to make this drink every Holi or Maha Shivratri and her recipe was appreciated every time. It’s also known as Shardai in some parts of India.

I am sharing her recipe of making this drink today with you all and hope you make it this Holi and enjoy it with friends and family.

There are many readymade versions of this drink available in the market, but nothing beats the taste that the homemade one gives.

In fact, the taste of these readymade mixes is quite far from the real stuff and I highly suggest you make it from scratch at home.

Thandai is,

• Refreshing
• Popularly made during Holi
• A Summer favourite
• Cooling
• Delicious
• Easy to make

Ingredients

Milk – You can use any milk of your choice, be it full fat, low fat, or skim milk. I use full-fat milk, as it gives a nice creamy texture to this drink and tastes the best.

Dry Fruits and Seeds – To make this drink, you will need seeds and nuts like almonds, cashew nuts, poppy seeds, and melon seeds.

Spices – A lot of spices like cardamom, black peppercorn, fennel, etc go into this drink.

Dry Fruits, Seeds and Spices are soaked to make a paste, that is later added to the milk.

Saffron – Adding saffron is optional but it makes the drink even richer. It also adds a hint of yellow colour to Thandai.

Sugar – You can adjust the amount of sugar, as per your taste. If you like it to be sweeter, you can increase the amount of sugar.

Rose Water – Addition of Rose Water makes it even more delicious and rich.

Step By Step Recipe

Soak almonds, cashew nuts, peppercorns, raisins, cardamom, poppy seeds, fennel seeds and melon seeds in ½ cup water for 5-6 hours.

Grind the soaked ingredients in a blender to make a smooth paste.

Add little milk if required.

Add the remaining milk.

Pass the mixture through a soup strainer.

Add sugar, saffron and rose water and mix till sugar is dissolved.

Pour the thandai in serving glasses. Garnish with rose petals and dry fruit slivers. Serve chilled.

Health Benefits

Apart from its delicious taste, Thandai has some great benefits for the body. I am listing a few here

• Boost Immunity
• Gives instant energy
• Cooldown the body
• Aids in digestion

Frequently Asked Questions

Variations

Apart from plain thandai and bhang thandai, you can also try the below-mentioned variations.

Kesar Thandai – Add some saffron strands soaked in water or milk to the plain version.

Rose Thandai – Add some rose syrup-like rooh afza to the thandai.

With Fruits – You can puree your choice of fruits and add in the Thandai for more flavor such as Guava, Mango, etc.

With Bhang – To make Thandai with Bhang, just soak 12-15 cannabis along with the remaining ingredients as mentioned below and follow the same process.

However, I would like you to read this article before you decide to add it to your drink. Here you go.

Serving Suggestions

Dry Fruits Thandai is best served chilled, so make sure to make a few hours before you plan to serve it.

You can serve it with some snacks such as Cornflakes Mixture, Corn Cheese Balls, Aloo Tikki Chaat, Papdi Chaat, etc. 

You can also add a few ice cubes in the glasses just before serving.

Storage Suggestions

This drink tastes even better when chilled. So prepare it a night before and chill it overnight.