Thandai concentrate -A very healthy and nourishing summer cooler concentrate from North India,specially made on Holi Festival
Thandai concentrate – Thandai is a very famous drink of North India ,It is widely consumed in Western Uttar Pradesh,Gujarat and Rajasthan.Thandai is made with almonds,pistachio,melon seeds,poppy seeds,fennel and many other cooling spices.
Thandai has a very unique flavor that I believe,is not even remotely similar to any other refreshment drink around the world.This Thandai concentrate is especially made during festival of Holi and during other family celebration and weddings etc.
I have also posted a Kesariya thandai recipe before ,which is made and consumed fresh i.e dry fruits and spices are soaked and ground fresh before making the thandai .then mixed with chilled milk ,water or fruit juices.
During summer it is also used as a refreshing drink (sharbat) to cool the body and give freshness and energy as the spices added in this have a cooling effect on our body .
Fennel, poppy seeds ,cardamom ,melon seeds ,gulkand ,nuts have thandi taaseer /cooling effect according to ayurveda and give energy and strength to our body so its a very good refreshing and healthy drink to have during summers.
As making this cooler needs some time and pre-planning to soak and grind the ingredients. So I have made this thandai concentrate which you can make in large quantity and then store it easily .When ever you want to serve it just dilute it with chilled milk,water or any fruit juice of your choice.
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Kesar Badam Sharbat (Thandai Concentrate)
Ingredients
- 750 gms Sugar / Chini
- 125 gms Almonds / Badam
- 75 gms Pistachio / Pista
- 1/4 cup Melon Seeds / Magaz / Kharbooje Ke Beej
- 3 tbsp Poppy seeds /khaskhas
- 3 tbsp Gulkand/Rose petal preserve
- 3 tbsp Peppercorns / Sabut Kali Mirch
- 3 tbsp Fennel Seeds / Saunf
- 15 Green Cardamom / Hari Elaichi
- 1/3 tsp Saffron / Kesar
- 3 tbsp Rose Water / Gulab Jal
- pinch of Citric Acid/nimbu phool/taatri
Instructions
- Soak almond and pistachio over night and peel the skin in the morning.
- Soak poppy seeds and melon seeds for about 2 hours in little water.
- Soak fennel seeds, cardamom and pepper corns in some water for 2 hours.
- Grind together almonds ,pistachio,poppy seeds and melon seeds with some water and make a fine paste.now add the gulkand and grind again.
- In a pan add sugar and a glass of water and cook on medium heat to make a sugar syrup of 1+ 1/2 thread consistency.
- Add 2 tsp of milk in the boiling syrup to remove the scum floating on top.
- Now add citric acid and mix then remove it from the gas and let it come to room temperature.
- Add the ground almond paste in the sugar syrup and mix well.
- Grind the fennel seeds ,cardamom and pepper corn with water and make a fine paste.
- Add the fennel paste and the soaked saffron in the sugar syrup and mix .
- Now just give a boil to the sugar syrup after mixing all the ingredients in it.
- Now strain the hot syrup with a muslin cloth or a strainer and then let it come to room temperature.
- Now add rose water and fill it in the glass bottles and keep refrigerated.
- How to serve- Take about 3-4 tbsps of thandai concentrate in a serving glass add some chilled milk/water/juice and some ice cubes ,mix and serve.
Notes
- You can adjust the quantity and ratio of dry fruits according to your preference ,can reduce the quantity of almonds and pista and increase the quantity of melon seeds.
- Can use cashew nuts instead of pistachio.
- The approx ratio of dry fruit paste and sugar is 1:3 i.e for 1 cup of dry fruit paste use 3 cups of sugar.
- You can adjust the quantity of pepper corns according to your tatse ,specially if you are making this for your kids,though traditionaaly thandai have a strong taste of pepper corns.
- If you don't have gulkand then can add fresh rose petals or just increase the quantity of rose water.
- If you want to make thandai concentrate in large quantity and want to store it at room temperature then do add some food preservative for long shelf life (sodium benzoate)
For how much time will the concentrate be preserved
With and without adding preservatives.
It can easily be stored for 2 months in the refrigerator without any preservative ,If you add preservative then can store for 6 months
What does 1+ 1/2 thread consistency means?
The syrup will be slightly sticky to touch,take a syrup drop between your finger and thumb and just pull both apart slightly ,see there should be a syrup thread between the finger and thumb
Hi Mam, this is such a wonderful recipe. I love the pics and I intend to make this sharbat. Is there any substitute for citric acid .
Hi Radhika
You can use lemon juice instead of citric acid . Enjoy 🙂
Very nutritional drink for summer.
Wow
@Zita you can try to find it at Indian super markets.
where do we get its concentate in dubai?any idea???
hi this is so nice blog and so nice recipe.parul
@Pallavi I have never tried adding brown sugar so not sure about how It will taste with brown sugar:)
anjana ji can we use brown sugar instead of white sugar?
@Pallavi-Thanks Pallavi for pointing it out..grind melon seeds with almonds and pista.I have updated the post now.
Anjana ji at what stage do we have to crush melon seeds?……… seems it was missed out in recipe directions
so healthy n refreshing one !!
wow.. never had this before. looks like i need to try this
Oh nice recipe. I use a similar one every holi, that's when the real fun of thadai begins 🙂
Lovely recipe…would love to give it a try
wow…lovely preparation…sharbath sounds very refreshing!
Spicy Treats
Fantastic concentrate, cant wait to try soon.
Perfect thandai..Loved it!!
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Wonderful preparation..
lovely refreshing and healthy sharbat……….
Very new to me..Loved the different flavors in it 🙂 Yum!!
http://youtoocancookindianfood.blogspot.in/
Truly refreshing and totally agree with you on the uniqeness of flavors in Thandai..i can't think of anything even close to!
Wow! You made this with all those ingredients! Great!
Excellent recipe.. I love thandai..
wow!!! Delicious drink and nice combo
wonderful….i always wanted to make this!!!!!!!!we keep buying haldirams….now i'll make it at home.thanks
Thanks for sharing this traditional recipe, very new to me..
really such a perfect drink for this summer
great combination of flavours.. lovely
Noel collections
Deve essere buono!! buona giornata…ciao
Very refreshing
Came returned from my class and all I need is this kind of sharbat !! plz pass me the glass 🙂
Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi
wow this is wonderful
my mom used to make this often