Vanilla flavoured Thandai

Holi - the festival of colours is here ! After all the crazy fun with colours, its time to cool off with some Thandai - a flavoured milk, with almonds, saffron and spices. This is a popular drink in the northern states of India and this was my first time with thandai. This is a Holi special drink and a little bhang mixed into it can take this thandai to another level !



Holi is not something I grew up celebrating. It is not such a popular festival in the South Indian culture, but people have adapted to it now. It was, in fact, quite a menace when we were younger and studying. Strangers would just throw balloons with coloured water or splash coloured paints and I didn't quite understand how that was considered celebration.
I enjoy it when its with family and close friends but definitely not with some arbit strangers

For those of you who do celebrate it, wish you a very Happy Holi. For those of you who dont, this drink is great for summers, Holi or otherwise

I did not have cardamom and khuskhus at home, so substituted it with some vanilla pods for a little twist to the traditional thandai

Thandai

What you need -

1 litre milk, preferably full fat
4 tbsp sugar
8 peppercorns
a few strands of saffron / kesar
20 almonds
2 tsp fennel seeds / saunf
1 vanilla pod

What you do with it -

Soak the almonds in hot water and keep aside for 15 mins
Pour out the milk into a thick bottomed vessel / pan
Allow the milk to boil and then reduce the heat
Slit the vanilla in half and add it to the pan of milk
Add the sugar and mix well till the sugar is dissolved
Powder the peppercorns and fennel seeds
Peel the skin off the almonds and grind along with the powdered peppercorns and fennel
Take the milk off the heat and allow it to cool
Add the almond paste to it and stir in well
Refrigerate this for 3-4 hours or overnight
Take a tbsp of warm milk and add the saffron strands to it
Strain the cooled milk using a sieve and discard the residue
Add the saffron and mix well
Serve cold with gujiyas, kachoris, kanji vada and other Holi delicacies

Nutella banana oat smoothie

Winter is officially over in my part of the world. Its back to being about 35 C in the day again and its just going to get hotter now. Its time to start up on all those cold salads and cooling drinks.
Here's a delicious and energy boosting drink I made for my little footballer. He likes milk. He loves bananas. He loves loves loves Nutella. The only thing he doesn't really like is oats.
I am not too fond of it myself, so maybe I haven't even really tried giving it to him. I don't like having oats and milk, though I powder the oats and use it making bread, dosas, idlis, muffins,...anything other than having it as is.



After all the running and sweating it out in his football sessions, I like to give him something he likes, something that's healthy and something nutritious enough. A cold glass of smoothie with bananas, milk, oats and Nutella sounded perfect
I had never used oats in a drink earlier and wasn't sure how it would really turn out. I just used a tablespoon of it here and the smoothie was over really fast, so I may add a little more next time.

Adding oats does make it thicker and changes the texture of the drink, so don't really add too much. A tablespoon or slightly more per glass should work just fine.

Nutella banana oat smoothie

What you need -

1 tbsp oats powdered (I used Quakers quick cooking oats)
3/4 cup cold milk
1 banana
2 tsp Nutella
5-6 ice cubes
1 tsp sugar (add more if required)

What you do with it -

Peel and chop the bananas
Add all the ingredients and run it thru the blender for 2-3 mins
Take a little Nutella and smear it in the inside of the glass and then pour the smoothie into it
Top it with a few chocolate chips if you'd like