Basundhi recipe

• Boil milk in a thick bottomed pan. Lower the flame and add the sliced pistachios and almonds to the milk.
• Keep boiling the milk on low flame for about 25 minutes. Stir the milk in between so that it doesn’t stick to the pan. Add sugar to the milk and stir till it dissolves completely.
• Boil on lower flame for 5 more minutes. Add cardamom powder and whipped cream to the thickened milk.
• Remove basundhi from heat. Transfer to a serving bowl.

Basundhi can also be made using condensed milk along with half the quantity of milk used in the above recipe. Use of condensed milk reduces the cooking time required for thickening of milk by half.

Trivia

The main ingredient in basundhi is milk. Did you know that humans started consuming and processed milk before they learned to grow crops? Archaeologists have discovered ceramic jars in the Balkans dating 7^th century BCE. Milk has been widely used and mentioned throughout history. The Egyptians, Sumerians, Indians, Romans, and Mongolians considered Milk as the ‘food of the gods’.

Ancient Sumerian kings drank milk believing it made them strong and immortal. Milk has been attributed astronomical qualities by almost all civilizations. Genghis Khan, the great Mongolian conqueror, considered milk and yogurt to be the reason behind his warriors’ bravery. The beauty of the famous Egyptian queen Cleopatra is attributed to daily milk baths. Julius Caesar believed that the reason behind the well-built bodies of the Germans and Celts was drinking milk.