Badam Milk (also called Badam Doodh) is a delicious, sweet, creamy drink made with ground almonds, milk, sugar and spiced with green cardamom powder and saffron. This tasty drink is delightful all year round.
Rinse and then soak almonds in ⅓ cup hot boiling water. Cover and keep aside for 30 to 40 minutes.
Later drain all the water and peel the almonds.
You just need to press the skin and it comes out easily.
Add the peeled almonds in a sturdy blender or grinder jar.
Blending almonds
Then add 4 tablespoons sugar or add as required, seeds from 4 green cardamoms and 1 pinch saffron. Saffron is optional and can be skipped.
Add ¼ to ⅓ cup milk. Milk can be cold or at room temperature.
Blend or grind to a fine or superfine consistency. The almonds should be ground very well to a smooth and fine consistency. If there are coarse particles or chunks, then it can be irritating to the throat.
Pour the ground almond mixture in a saucepan.
Add the remaining ½ cup milk in the blender or grinder jar. Shake and swirl the grinder jar so that almond paste attached to the sides and bottom of the jar gets mixed with the milk and nothing gets wasted.
Add this milk to the saucepan.
Lastly add remaining 1.5 cups milk into the saucepan. Mix well.
Making badam milk
Keep the pan on a low flame and begin to heat the milk.
Stir at intervals so that the milk does not scorch from the bottom.
You just need to heat the milk and there is no need for a vigorous boil. A light boil is also fine. Switch off the heat when the milk becomes hot.
Serve badam milk hot or warm. It can be chilled also and then served. If you want you can add a touch of rose water in the milk.
Alternatively you can even garnish Badam Milk with rose petals. Sliced blanched almonds can also be used as a garnish as well as a few strands of saffron.
Notes
Remember to always soak the almonds. You can opt to soak them for 30 minutes in hot water or consider soaking them for 8 hours in room temperature water.
Peel the almonds to get a smooth, fine and creamy consistency in the badam milk.
Ensure that the almonds are ground to a fine or superfine consistency. A coarsely ground mixture of the almonds will irritate the throat.
Omit saffron if you prefer.
Make a vegan variation by adding your preferred plant based milk.