Happy Holi ! 🌼🌸🥀🏵️✨

Holi is here again, and the festive vibes are in full swing! Playing with colors is such a delight and a cherished tradition, and you can really feel your senses syncing with the joyful atmosphere. When we’re in this celebratory mood, the first thing we think about is delicious and exciting foods. And what’s the first drink that pops into our heads for this celebration of colours? Thandai, of course! This iconic drink of the festival not only satisfies your thirst in this dry season but also takes your taste buds on a delightful journey, making you feel so happy that you can’t help but shout “Holi Hai!” with glee. Following that, we have a feast of mouthwatering treats like dahi vadas, gujias, mathris, poori, and a whole bunch of other goodies. Your thandai is just the beginning of the amazing food experience that lasts all day, washing away all your fatigue.

But for our vegan or lactose-intolerant pals, enjoying thandai can be a bit tricky. They definitely want to join in on the fun but have to stick to their dietary choices. So, they whip up their own versions, and often these alternatives turn out to be even better than the original! There are so many passionate chefs who are creating fantastic vegan versions of the traditional dishes that usually contain dairy or meat. Personally, I’m neither vegan nor lactose intolerant, but I really enjoy some of the vegan food and drinks. I love making vegan versions of popular dishes to promote a balanced approach to eating. This time I tried with oat milk as the vegan milk which is cheaper & easy to extract as compared to other vegan milks and tastes just awesome that you will not at all feel the need of milk. So, here’s my recipe for vegan thandai, infused with nolen gur for a unique flavor and beetroot juice for a vibrant color. Hoping you would simply love it.

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

1. Oats (for oat milk) – 1 cup
2. Beetroot juice – 1 or 2 tbs
3. Date palm Jaggery ( liquid or grated)/ powdered sugar – As per taste.

For thandai mix :-

1. Almonds (soaked) – 10 to 15
2. Cashews (soaked) – 10 to 15
3. Poppy seeds (soaked) – 1tbs
4. Dates ( soaked)- 7-8
5. Pistachio – a handful
6. Green cardamom- 5 or 6
7. Rose water – 1 tsp

Preparation:

A) Oat Milk preparation:-

1. Soak one cup oats overnight in 2-3 cups of water.
2. Drain the water & take it in a blending jar.
3. Add 4 cups of chilled water or ice cubes and blend for not more than 30 seconds to get the creamy milk. Blending it more may cause the milk to get slippery.
4. Strain the mixture and your oat milk is ready.

B) Thandai preparation:-

1. In a blending jar take the ingredients of thandai mix ( soaked almonds, cashews, poppy seeds, pistachio, dates & cardamom) & grind together to make a paste.
2. Grate some beetroot & squeze out the juice, add little cardamom powder and bring it to boil. Bring down from the flame & let it cool for using later.
3. Heat the oat milk over a low flame along with thandai mix paste in a pan to dissolve the paste in the milk. Do not bring it to boil just warm it up slightly to blend everything together.
4. Bring down from the flame add the sweetener i.e. liquid or grated jaggery, as per taste.
5. Garnish with some chopped nuts & chill in the refrigerator for atleast an hour.
6. Your super delicious dairy free thandai is now ready to chill you inside out.