kadhi wala doodh

kadhi wala doodh is a famous north Indian dessert or drink. It is simply milk with lot of dry fruits and some spices, cooked till reduced to almost half. So, in a way, it’s flavoured condensed milk. Generally, it’s served hot in earthen pots, but during summer, you can consume it chilled as well and it is always lip smacking, whether hot and chilled.

The beauty of this dessert is that there is no need for a particular recipe. You can use any type or amount of dry fruit and spices like cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, saffron, cloves etc. Since my kids do not like too many spices, so I have used saffron and cardamom only. For sweetness, I used sugar for my kids.

Here is how I make ‘kadhi wala doodh’. You improvise it according to your taste and likings.

Ingredients

Milk	1 litre
Saffron	few strands
Cardamom powder	½ teaspoon
Dry fruits (pistachio, almonds, cashew, dates)	½ cup
Sugar/ non calorie sweetener	1-2 tablespoons/ 2 tablets

Method:

1. Blanch almonds and chop them finally. Similarly chop rest of the dry fruits also.
2. Put the milk in a heavy bottomed pan and keep it on fire.
3. Let it boil and then reduce the flame.
4. Let it simmer for 7-8 minutes on low flame.
5. A thin layer of malai will appear on the top. Just push this aside. In this way keep on moving the malai layer that is formed, to the side. This malai makes the milk very tasty.
6. Put saffron, cardamom powder and all the chopped dry fruit to the milk.
7. Continue simmering it, now with constant stirring as the milk, that has got thickened, may burn at the bottom if not stirred.
8. Add sugar or non calorie sweetener and remove from flame.
9. Serve hot or chilled topped with malai and pistachio.

This is where dessert meets milk, a quintessential Indian favourite . It’s simple, it’s bursting with goodness and flavour AND a big hit always. It’s quite similar to a thandai,