Kesar Mishri Doodh
Milk simmered down till it turns thick and sweet on its own, saffron bloomed in a spoonful, cardamom, slivered almonds. The last warm thing before bed.
Ingredients
Serves 2
- 2 cups (500 ml) full-cream milk
- 2 tbsp (about 20 g) Organic Dhaga Mishri, crushed, or to taste
- 10 to 12 strands of saffron (kesar)
- 1 tbsp warm milk, to soak the saffron
- ¼ tsp green cardamom powder
- 4 almonds, soaked, peeled and slivered
- 4 pistachios, slivered
- A small pinch of nutmeg (jaiphal), optional
- ½ tsp dried rose petals, optional
Quantities are scaled up. Taste as you go and adjust the salt and spice.
Shop this recipe
Everything you need, from our press house
Half past ten at night, the house quiet, one small pan on the smallest flame. The saffron has been sitting in a spoon of warm milk for ten minutes and has turned it deep orange. The milk in the pan has thickened just enough to leave a film on the back of the ladle. The mishri goes in, dissolves slowly, and then the saffron milk is poured in and the whole pan turns pale gold. Two glasses, almonds on top, and that is the day finished.
Organic Dhaga Mishri is the reason this does not taste like sugar milk. It is rock sugar grown slowly on cotton threads, and it dissolves gently and sweetens without that flat white-sugar edge that flattens everything around it. With mishri, the saffron and the cardamom stay in front where they belong. Ours is organic and crystallised the old way, and it is worth crushing it fresh rather than buying a powder.
The one thing people rush is the saffron. Ten strands dropped straight into the pan will give you a faint yellow tinge and almost no smell. Rub them between your fingers first, soak them in a tablespoon of warm milk for a full ten minutes until the liquid goes deep orange, and add that in at the end. That is where the whole scent comes from.
How to make it
- Put the saffron in a small katori with 1 tbsp warm milk. Leave it for 10 minutes. The milk will turn deep orange.
- Pour the milk into a heavy-bottomed pan. Bring it to a boil on medium heat, stirring now and then so it does not catch at the bottom.
- Lower the flame. Simmer for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring, till the milk thickens a little and tastes richer.
- Pull out any bit of thread from the mishri and crush it lightly. Add it to the milk and stir for a minute or two till it dissolves. Taste, and add a little more if you like.
- Add the saffron milk and cardamom. Simmer for one more minute and switch off.
- Pour into two glasses or cups. Top with the almonds, pistachios, a pinch of nutmeg and the rose petals.
- Sip it warm, about half an hour before bed.
Tips
- Crush a small jar of mishri with cardamom and keep it ready. A spoon into warm milk, and bedtime doodh is a two-minute job.
- Summer version: let the milk cool, chill it for 2 hours, and serve over ice. Mishri dissolves best in warm milk, so sweeten it before chilling.
- For haldi doodh, add ¼ tsp turmeric and a pinch of black pepper along with the cardamom.
- Kids love it with less saffron, 4 or 5 strands, and a little extra pistachio on top.
