Badam Milk

I recently stumbled upon this delightful Indian drink that had me more than a little intrigued. I’m not usually a big milk drinker, but when I saw it contained cardamom, saffron, and rosewater, I knew I had to give it a try. Sure enough, I was hooked. Sweet, creamy and absolutely exploding with aromatics, it’s the perfect end-of-summer treat!

My recipe is only slightly adapted from this wonderful post by Cook With Manali. She has several other delicious looking recipes on her site that I can’t wait to try, for example this Afghan yogurt drink.

How can you resist these ingredients? I mean . . .

Start by soaking the almonds in water for at least two hours so that you can easily remove their skin.

You can also do this quickly by blanching the almonds in boiling water for one minute (drain, then run under cold water) or by purchasing them pre-blanched, but what’s the fun in that?

Blend the almonds with 1/4 cup of whole milk until the mixture reaches a grainy paste-like consistency.

Remove the mixture from the blender and set aside.

Over low heat, use a metal ladle to toast the saffron. Once the saffron dries out and becomes aromatic, use a mortar and pestle to crush it into a powder. While you’re at it, crush the cardamom seeds into a powder as well.

Next, add the remaining milk and the almond paste to a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Stir constantly so that the milk does not burn. This is extremely important!

As soon as the milk reaches a boil reduce the heat to low, add the sugar and the spices, and continue to cook for 20 minutes stirring constantly, allowing the milk to thicken.

Lastly, remove from the heat, add the rosewater and let cool. You can also drink it warm, but I like it better chilled, so I popped it in the refrigerator.

Once chilled, pour into a glass and top with your favorite garnishes.

I used a few strands of saffron, edible rose petals, and crushed almonds.

So preeeetty!!

Badam Milk

Ingredients:

• 4 cups whole milk
• 25 almonds
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 5 cardamom pods
• pinch of saffron
• 1/4 teaspoon rosewater
• saffron, edible rose petals and crushed almonds for garnish

Directions:

• Soak the almonds in water for at least two hours then remove their skin (or start with pre-blanched almonds).
• In a food processor or blender, blend the almonds with 1/4 cup of the milk until the mixture reaches a grainy paste-like consistency. Set aside.
• Over low heat, use a metal ladle to toast the saffron. Once the saffron dries out and becomes aromatic, use a mortar and pestle to crush it into a powder. Set aside.
• Use a mortar and pestle to crush the cardamom seeds into a powder. Set aside.
• Add the remaining milk and the almond paste to a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Stir constantly so that the milk does not burn.
• As soon as the milk reaches a boil reduce the heat to low, add the sugar and the spices, and continue to cook for 20 minutes stirring constantly, allowing the milk to thicken.
• Remove from heat, add the rosewater and let cool. Once cooled to room temperature, place in the refrigerator to chill.
• Once chilled, pour into a glass and garnish with saffron strands, edible rose petals, and crushed almonds. Serve.

(images by HonestlyYUM; recipe adapted from Cook With Manali)