Recipe: Thandai (Spiced Almond Milk)

Since the end of summer is fast approaching (SoCal summer), I was feeling nostalgic this weekend, and decided to whip up a favorite drink of mine from childhood camping trips. From the ages of 10 to 16, I used to go on a yearly camping trip with my family and about 10 other Indian families. We would set up camp about a half mile away from Leo Carrillo beach, and then have the most memorable weekend of the summer. My childhood camping memories consist of tie-dying shirts, hunting for sun-kissed shells on the beach, taking long hikes with 20+ people, fighting over walking Lucky the puppy/eventually dog, and countless games of SoCo, dodgeball, cricket, and freeze tag. And let's not forget the awesome food we would have: all the aunties would plan menus weeks in advance, and we would have an eclectic, but amazing combination of American and Indian food. For breakfast, we would have pancakes with chai, lunch would be tandoori grilled chicken or chicken hot dogs with a countless number of side dishes, and dinner would usually be some sort of elaborate Indian meal with a side of grilled cheese sandwiches or corn on the cob. Interspersed between the main meals were afternoon bhel puri or pani puri accompanied by some deliciously cold thandai. Thinking back on these wonderful childhood trips made me crave some ice-cold thandai, and so I decided to recreate it using this recipe.

Thandai (Spiced Almond Milk):

Ingredients:

Almond Paste:

1/2 cup finely ground almond meal

1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)

Spiced Milk:

2 cups milk (I used 2% again)

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp rose water'

1/2 tsp black peppercorns

6 cardamom pods

1 cinnamon stick

2 cloves

1 pinch saffron, optional

1 tsp crushed pistachios, for garnish

1.) Grind a little over 1/2 cup of almonds until it resembles a fine meal. 

2.) Blend the almond meal with 1/2 cup of milk until a thick, creamy paste forms. Refrigerate the paste for 2 hours.

3.) Gather your spices and then crush the cardamom, fennel seeds, cloves, and black peppercorn using a mortar and pestle.

4.) Combine the milk and sugar in a heavy-based pot

5.) Add the crushed spices and cinnamon stick to the sugar-milk mixture and set pot over medium flame. As soon as the milk starts to boil, turn down the heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, turn off the heat completely and allow the spices to infuse into the milk for at least an hour. 

6.) After the milk-spices mixture has cooled, strain the spices out using a sieve and refrigerate the milk until chilled. Once ready, combine the milk and almond paste, stirring thoroughly. 

7.) Pour spiced milk over a few ice cubes and garnish with the saffron and pistachios ( I couldn't find either, and was too excited to look for them). Enjoy immediately.