Holi 2023: Get ready to celebrate with a thandai premix and other unique dishes

Pic/iStock

A chilled, tall tumbler (or two) of thandai - fragrant, sweet and refreshing - is what the heart longs for after a sunny day of fun and frolic with gulaal. The traditional cold drink blends together a variety of seeds and spices with the goodness of milk and sugar, and is known to have cooling and energising properties. But preparing the beverage from scratch during a house party filled with revelry is no easy feat. Chef and recipe developer Saloni Kukreja shows us how to prepare a thandai masala premix that you can use to quickly whip up fresh thandai for guests by adding milk. One can also use it to flavour mousse, make thandai shakes or ice-creams, she suggests.

Shrikhand thandai mousse prepared with the premix by Kukreja

Instant thandai masala

Ingredients
. 1/4 cup almonds
. 1/4 cup pistachios
. 1/4 cup cashews
. 1 tbsp poppy seeds
. 1 tbsp fennel seeds
. 5 whole cardamom pods
. 1/4 tsp peppercorns
. 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
. A pinch of saffron . Rose petals

Saloni Kukreja

Method
To make the thandai masala, toast the nuts and seeds together in a pan on low to medium-low heat, stirring continuously for six toseven minutes, till they start to brown. Don't overheat the spices; once they are warm to the touch, they are done. Cool down everything; add the rose petals, nutmeg powder, a pinch of saffron and blend it to a powder. The thandai powder is ready.

Thandai mix by Kukreja

Colours on your plate

Hosting a house party or heading to one? Stock up your pantry with these fun treats

Mumbai resident Sunita Seksaria has a real nose for the best crop of spices from across the country, be it peppercorns from Kerala or cardamoms from Meghalaya. Using these masalas, the Rajasthan native follows an age-old family recipe to create a thandai mix that you can opt for if you're too caught up to make your own. Add one to two tsp in 200 ml of milk, with sugar, and have it chilled. She also throws in a potli of slivered almonds, pistachios and kesar to top your thandai with.
CALL 9833390779
COST Rs 350 for a jar

Chocolate paan brownie basket

It's a splash of colours at baker and cake artiste Shikha Murarka's kitchen. While the kunafa thandai - layers of vermicelli with their special thandai cream - can serve as the pièce de résistance for your dessert corner, her chocolate paan brownie basket, filled with cherries, mukhwas and other goodies, is perfect to pass around among guests looking for a quick bite. She's also baking a thandai mawa tea cake.
LOG ON TO @mishmashbakery
CALL 9819766027
COST Rs 175 each (baskets); Rs 750 (kunafa thandai dessert, 700 gm); Rs 1,100 onwards (thandai cake)

Kunafa thandai dessert by Murarka

From bajra methi dhebra with peru canapés to thandai trifle and ratalu took chaat, Soam is serving and delivering fun festive specialities. You can also curate your own hamper of chaat party essentials from Soam at Home.
AT Sadguru Sadan, Babulnath Road.
LOG ON TO Swiggy
COST Rs 250 onwards (for Holi menu)

Thandai custard jar by Soneji

Bhumika Soneji from Kandivali has infused the richness of thandai into an all-time classic: custard. Her eggless thandai custard jar, layered with cookie crumbs, homemade thandai powder, butter and custard, is topped with Sindhi ghear. The latter, she tells us, is a typical sweet made by the Sindhi community during Holi. She also offers mawa gujiyas dipped in sugar syrup. It is available without the syrup, too.
PLACE ORDERS BY March 5
LOG ON TO @craftybakerin
CALL 7977451256
COST Rs 225 (200 ml, custard jar with discount); Rs 750 (gujiyas, per kg)

Tiramisu chandrakala

Luxury mithai venture Nihira's Holi menu blends the traditional with the modern. Think apple pie gujiya wrap, stuffed with apple sauce and stewed apples, wrapped in the traditional lavang latika style, and baked with brown sugar and cinnamon; or lotus biscoff gujiyas and tiramisu chandrakalas. Founders Subha and Arshya Aggarwal can booze up the apple pie gujiya with cognac, or tiramisu gujiyas with Bailey's ice-cream, too. Check out their extensive collection of alcoholic mithais, like gin-cranberry laddoos, Old Monk halwa, campari laddoos, and more.
LOG ON TO @nihiraandco
CALL 7042849182
COST Rs 125 onwards (apple pie gujiya); Rs 550 onwards (box of assorted gujiyas)

Happy hues

The colour set. Pic/Nimesh Dave

Let turmeric, marigold, hibiscus, rose, beetroot, indigo, henna and bael patra colour your Holi with Phool's range of natural gulaals made from temple flowers. Their assorted pack pays a tribute to the colour-makers with
cool illustrations.
LOG ON TO phool.co
COST Rs 485