Thandai (indian Almond Drink)

Total Time: 15 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 1 1/2 liters water
• 1 cup sugar (or to taste)
• 1 tablespoon almonds
• 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds, raw, hulled
• 1/2 tablespoon poppy seed
• 1/2 tablespoon anise seed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon rose water (optional) or 1 teaspoon orange flower water (optional)
• 1 teaspoon peppercorn
• 1/4 cup rose petal, organic (optional)

Recipe

• 1 soak sugar in 1/2 litre of the water used. set aside.
• 2 soak remaining ingredients in 2 cups of remaining water. set aside.
• 3 allow all soaked items to stand for at least 2 hours.
• 4 grind all soaked ingredients to a very fine paste. (not sugar) in a processor or blender.
• 5 place a double layer of cheesecloth or a coffee filter over/in a strainer and set over a large container/pitcher.
• 6 press through muslin with the back of a spoon, extracting as much liquid as possible.
• 7 add remaining water, a little at a time to extract more of the nut liquid.
• 8 pour back some of the extract and press, repress. do this a number of times to extract as much flavour out of the nut paste as possible.
• 9 mix well. chill for atleast 2 hours before serving. you may need to give the drink a stir before pouring.
• 10 to serve, sprinkle some rose petals over each serving (optional).
• 11 note: do not discard the nut paste - it is excellent used in making korma-type curries.