A Glass Of Chilled Badam Milk

Badam Milk/Badam Kheer

Serves 2 glasses

Ingredients 

1. Badam/almonds 1 cup

2. Whole milk 1/2 gallon 

3. Sugar 1/2 cup

4. Cardamom powder 1 tsp

5. Saffron threads 

6. Ghee 3 tbsp 

7. A few silvered almonds & saffron strands for garnish 

Method Of Preparation

1. Boiling & Condensing the Milk

A. Take a heavy bottomed pan & add milk to it.

B. Put it on a very low flame on the gas.

C. Let the milk come to a boil gently. 

D. Keep stirring in regular intervals to prevent the milk from getting burnt or sticking to the bottom of the pan.

E. As the milk keeps boiling, it thickens. 

F. As the milk thickens, there will be milk solids forming on the sides of the pan & cream on the top.

G. Using a ladle, scrape the solids & cream off & add it back to the milk & continue stirring.

H. You need to condense the milk to 1/4th of its original quantity. It needs to reduce till it gets a very very light brown shade(see the 3rd picture below).

I. Turn off the gas & keep it aside.

2. Blanch The Almonds & Make The Paste

A. Fill a saucepan with water & bring it a boil.

B. Soak the almonds in the boiling water for a minute. Do not let the almonds remain in water for more than a minute because the almonds may become too soft if it remains in the water for long.

C. Drain the water out & rinse the almonds in cold running water.

D. Pat dry them & place an almond in between your thumb & index finger & from the broad end of the almonds give it a squeeze. The skin will come off the almonds.

E. Do not press the almonds too hard in order to remove the skin. Just give it a gentle press & your the skin will come off.

F. Pat dry the blanched almonds & keep it ready to be ground in a mixer/blender.

G. Add milk just enough to soak the almonds & grind them(almonds along with milk) to a coarse paste. 

H. Keep the paste aside in a bowl.

I. Take a skillet/tawa & add ghee on a low heat.

J. Now add the ground paste to this & cook on a low flame till the raw smell goes away & the paste becomes thick & golden in color.

K. When the paste starts getting thick, add sugar & mix it well & then add cardamom powder & saffron threads.

L. Give it a stir & turn off the gas.

M. Add this paste to the boiled & condensed milk & mix it well & cook on a very low flame for a minute.

N. Turn off the gas.

O. If your going to serve it cold, then let it cool & then leave it in the fridge for two hours before serving.

P. Garnish with silvered almonds & saffron strands.

Notes

1. If you do not want the paste to be coarse, then you can grind the almonds along with milk to a smooth fine paste.

2. Ghee is completely optional while cooking the almond paste.

3. You can replace sugar with honey.

4. You can increase or decrease the quantity of almonds & sugar. I like my Badam milk to be sweet so I added 1/2 cup of sugar, you can add more or less.

5. If you want it very thick, then you can increase the quantity of almonds.

6. You should boil & condense the milk before you add the almond paste to get the best taste, otherwise ur Badam milk is not going to taste good.

7. After you let the milk rest, you will find it thick if you have added too many almonds, in that case, just add a little warm milk to it & mix it.