Flavour Diary: Thandai Baked Yogurt | Holi Special

Thandai is a hindi word which means coolant in English. Thandai is a beverage where thandai mixture is boiled along with milk, strained and served cooled. Thandai is highly nutritious beverage and gives a cooling effect to the body and is one of the beverage for summer. Thandai is perfect drink to serve on special days and festive occasions, usually made during Holi and is very much popular in North India.
I know March has arrived and it will be very soon that spring is going to start in UK officially and we can see some beauty breaking this snowy winter but back in India start of Spring is celebrated with a festival called Holi also known as festival of colours. Holi is mostly enjoyed by adults and kids as they can play, play and play with colours.On this festival Thandai is the common beverage served at all places.
Today i am making my own thandai mixture at home, which is quite easy to do. Roasting flavourful ingredients and blending it to fine powder it is that simple. You can add this mixture to hot boiling water and strain the milk and serve it cool or you can use mixture and get creative and create your fusion recipes. I am using thandai mixture to creating a fusion recipe called Thandai Baked Yogurt. Its an easy recipe to make and it is going to be part of Foodie Monday Bloghop and Sonal's of www.simplyvegetarian777.com Holi collection of recipes.

You may also like to check other Indian Desserts
Instant Jalebi (Indian)
Badusha (Indian)
Chawal Ki Kheer ( Rice Pudding)
Sheer Khurma (Indian)
Sweet Corn Halwa
Chocolate Cardamom Sandesh
Khubani ka Meetha(Dry Apricot Sweet)
Coconut Moong Dal Halwa Truffle

Level: Easy
Prep Time: 10 mins
Bake Time: 20 mins

Serves: 4
Cup: 250ml

Ingredients

Baked Yogurt
Condensed Milk: 1/2 cup
Fresh Cream: 1/2 cup
Thick Yogurt/Greek Yogurt: 1/2 cup
Thandai Masala*: 2 tablespoon (reduce to 1 tablespoon if you don't like strong flavour)
Rose Essence: 1/8th teaspoon

Thandai Masala(yields 1/4cup)
Source: here
Cardamom /elachi: 3

Black Pepper : 3

Cashew: 6
Almonds/badaam: 8
Pistachio: 10
Poppy Seeds/khuskhus: 1 tablespoon
Saffron strands: 1 pinch
Fennel Seeds/saunf: 1/4 teaspoon

Melon seeds: 1 tablespoon (i haven't used)

thandai masala

Directions
Thandai Mixture/Masala:
In a pan dry roast Cashew, Almonds,Pistachios and take aside and turn off the flame. Now add Cardamom, Black Pepper, Poppy Seeds, Fennel Seeds and stir for 20secs after turning off the flame. In a blender add all the ingredients under thandai masala and blend it to fine powder.

Baked Yogurt:
Preheat your oven at 180c for 10 mins. In a bowl add all the ingredients under baked yogurt and mix well without any lumps. Pour the mixture in ramekins or oven safe bowl. In a large pan add hot boiling water and place the ramekins in the water and bake for 15-20 mins. Serve the baked yogurt after it cools down.

Tips
You can add dry edible rose petals to the thandai mixture and skip rose essence instead.

Fusion output: I found baked yogurt is bit sweet for my tastebuds. My princess didn't like the strong flavour of thandai. If i bake next time i would decrease condensed milk a bit and adjust the thandai masala ratio for my little one's taste bud.