Fah Thai Magazine March/April 2018 - Infight Magazine of Bangkok Airways

HOLI FOOD
Right
Often associated
with the Holi fest
is Thandai, a cold
drink made fragrant
with spices and
nuts, such as saffron
and cardamom.
Bottom
The sweet flatbread,
Puran Poli, gets
folded into a treat
made during special
festivals like Holi.
THANDAI
One of the most popular drinks
during Holi is bhang thandai –
sweetened yoghurt lassi spiked with
very small quantities of marijuana.
The buds and leaves of cannabis are
crushed into a green paste (called
bhang goli) and added to the lassi,
which is a mixture of milk, sugar,
dry fruits, and spices (saffron and
cardamom are most common) to
make bhang thandai. It gives you a
pleasant high and brings to mind
all those Bollywood songs – from
Rajesh Khanna singing “Jai Jai Shiv
Shankar” (invoking the cannabissmoking
Lord Shiva) to the illicit
It gives you a pleasant high
and brings to mind all those
Bollywood songs – from
Rajesh Khanna singing “Jai Jai
Shiv Shankar” (invoking the
cannabis-smoking Lord Shiva)
to the illicit crooning of Amitabh
Bachchan in “Rang Barse”.
crooning of Amitabh Bachchan in
“Rang Barse”. Of course, thandai
can be made without adding the
bhang, but where’s the fun in that?
This drink is particularly popular
in the northern states of Rajasthan
and Uttra Pradesh.
PURAN POLI
In Maharashtra, puran poli is
the staple Holi food. Jaggery
and split yellow gram lentils
are cooked together to form a
sweet paste, which is flavoured
with cardamom and nutmeg. The
paste is then filled into a wheat
flatbread, which is roasted on
a pan. The puran poli is usually
served with a generous dollop
of ghee and a bowl of plain milk
to dunk the flatbread. Another
accompaniment to this sweet
preparation is a thin and spicy
lentil curry.
Holi falls on March 1st and 2nd this year. If you’re in India,
don’t miss trying out some of these festive sweets, most of
which are made as special treats for Holi.
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