Thandai Powder

Thandai Powder is a healthy and refreshing powder mix made by grinding nuts and spices. This Thandai Masala Powder is used to make Thandai - a delicious cooler often consumed during summers in India and the Holi festival.

India is a land of distinctive spice blends that gives not only flavor to any dish but also nutritional value.

This Thandai Powder is a versatile masala powder that you can easily make at home. With the goodness of nuts, spices, and seeds, it acts as a perfect cooling agent when added to milk, while making the beverage Thandai. Thandai is often consumed during Maha Shivratri, Holi, and throughout the summer season.

Holi is the festival of colors in India and it is just around the corner. It is also considered the beginning of spring, though it feels like summer when compared to most parts of the world. There is so much love and happiness all around and we celebrate the festival with lots of fun, dance, bhang, and of course, Thandai.

Bhang is an edible mixture made from the leaves, buds, and flowers of cannabis. Whereas, Thandai is preferred by the non-alcoholic crowd.

The word Thandai means coolant and literally, this drink is cooling and hydrating. It is also known as Sardai.

Traditionally, Thandai is made by soaking the nuts and spices for hours or overnight and then grinding them to form a fine paste. Nuts like almonds need to be peeled before grinding. This paste is then mixed with chilled milk along with other ingredients like saffron milk.

The traditional method of making Thandai is time-consuming, needless to say, it is a wee bit tedious as well. But in this fast-paced world where we do not have time to even stand a gaze, who has the time to put in so much effort even if it means the result in a refreshing glass of goodness.

I believe, that is how this shortcut, easy, and quick way of making Thandai powder came into existence.

What is Thandai Powder Made of?

Thandai powder is

easy to prepare

takes less than 5 minutes to make

has the goodness of dry fruits and spices

can be stored for future use

can also be used to make other recipes like cookies

better than store-bought powder mix

uses fresh, good quality ingredients

Ingredients to Make Thandai Powder

Thandai powder is made of different dry fruits and seeds, and aromatic spices. All you have to do is grind them together to make Thandai powder. IT comes together in five minutes and can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week at room temperature.

Nuts: Cashews, Almonds, and Pistachios are the dry fruits needed for making Thandai.

Seeds: The seeds used in making Thandai powder are melon seeds, poppy seeds, and fennel.

Spices: We add aromatic spices like green cardamom and peppercorns as well. The pepper adds a slight tinge of heat to the Thandai.

Along with nuts, seeds, and spices, we also add a little saffron strands and dried rose petals. Saffron adds a distinct flavor and color to the Thandai and so does the dried rose petals. Both these ingredients are optional though you can easily grab them from any Indian grocery store.

Uses of Thandai Powder

Thandai Masala is an aromatic fragrant powder and it can be used to flavor milk. If your kids are fussy in drinking milk, you can also add a scoop of thandai powder to it, every once in a while.

Thandai powder can be stored in an airtight container for months. Apart from making Thandai, you can also add this powder to cookies, cakes, cheesecakes, and even desserts like rabdi, kheer, or payasam.

Thandai Powder Recipe Video

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Thandai Powder Recipe

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Tips and FAQs Thandai Masala Powder:

• Thandai Powder Benefits: Apart from the fact that Thandai is a refreshing cooling agent, there are many benefits to drinking Thandai. The goodness of almonds, cashews, and pistachios result in this drink being a great energizer. It is also rich in antioxidants and aids digestion. The ingredients in Thandai, namely cardamom and peppercorns are a good immunity booster and natural detoxifier.
• When should you drink Thandai? Thandai should be consumed during summers. Its digestion boosting properties helps in preventing acidity and bloating which is experienced by many during summers.
• Is Thandai good for health? Thandai uses full-fat milk, almonds, and cashews (again rich in fat), and sometimes, Bhaang is also added to Thandai. These ingredients when consumed in large amounts will cause a spike in blood sugar levels and also hinders weight reductions.
  So, “Everything in moderation, including moderation.” ~ Oscar Wilde 🙂
• How long can Thandai powder be stored? Thandai powder can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for over a month as it is only dry fruits, nuts, seeds, and spices.
• How to make Thandai using this Instant Thandai powder? This recipe makes about 6-8 glasses of Thandai drink. To make Thandai, add about two tablespoons of Thandai powder with two tablespoons of sugar in a glass. Pour boiled and chilled milk into it. Mix well. If you have some time in hand, soak a pinch of saffron strands in two tablespoons of warm milk for ten minutes. Add this to the Thandai drink and mix well. Further, you may keep this refrigerated for an hour or so, so that the drink will be more flavorsome.
• Can we use Gulkhand (rose petal jam) instead of dried rose petals to make Thandai masala? Can we omit dried rose petals while making Thandai? You may use Gulkhand while making Thandai but since it is sticky in texture, add it only if you plan to consume the drink instantly. The resulting Thandai powder made with Gulkhand cannot be stored for future use. You may omit dried rose petals entirely but it does indeed bring a distinct flavor to the drink.
• This is what I use: Dried Rose Petals Amazon

• Do you grind cardamoms with green skin on? Yes, you may grind cardamoms with skin on.
• Poppy seeds are optional. The cashews will make do it give the creamy texture. That said, though the ingredients are small in quantity, each provides a unique flavor to the powder.
• Is store-bought Thandai powder good? One cannot trust the store-bought Thandai powder blindly. It may contain dust particles and low-quality nuts and seeds. That said, you may try Thandai masala powders from trusted brands.
• Thandai powder Amazon

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Chocolate Shrikhand Recipe

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