Kesar Doodh: The Saffron Milk We Grew Up On

There is a version of kesar doodh in almost every Kashmiri home, and no two are quite the same. Some families add almonds, some don't. Some sweeten it with sugar, some with honey, some not at all. What they all share is patience with the saffron. That is the part that matters.

This is the way we make it.

What you need (for two glasses)

• 2 cups full-fat milk
• 8 to 10 threads of saffron
• 2 green cardamom pods
• 6 to 8 almonds, soaked overnight and peeled
• 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar, or to taste
• A few pistachios to finish, if you have them

How to make it

1. Start the saffron first. Warm two tablespoons of the milk until it is just warm to touch. Crumble the saffron into it and leave it for fifteen minutes. This is the step most people skip, and it is the one that gives you the colour.
2. Prepare the almonds. Slice them thin, or crush them coarsely in a mortar. If you haven't soaked them, a quick ten-minute soak in hot water will let you slip the skins off.
3. Crack the cardamom. Press the pods with the flat of a knife so they split, and take out the seeds. Crush the seeds lightly.
4. Heat the milk. Bring the rest of the milk to a gentle boil, then lower the heat. Add the cardamom and almonds and let it simmer for five minutes, stirring now and then so it doesn't catch.
5. Add the saffron last. Pour in the saffron and its soaking milk. Stir, add sugar, and let it sit on the lowest heat for two more minutes.
6. Serve it warm. Pour into glasses and scatter a few chopped pistachios on top.

The milk should be a soft golden yellow, not bright orange. If it is shockingly orange, that colour did not come from saffron.

Small things that make it better

• Full-fat milk carries the flavour better than toned milk. Saffron's taste and smell sit well in fat.
• Don't boil it hard after the saffron goes in. A long rolling boil dulls the smell.
• Let it rest for a minute before drinking. The colour keeps deepening as it sits.

Ways to change it

With honey instead of sugar. Let the milk cool until it is warm rather than hot, then stir in a spoon of raw honey. Adding honey to very hot milk takes away the taste that made you choose raw honey in the first place.

As a cold drink. Make it as above, cool it, then chill it for a few hours. It thickens slightly in the fridge and is lovely in summer.

With a pinch of nutmeg. Some families add a tiny grating of nutmeg at the end, especially in winter.

Without the almonds. If you want it plain, leave them out. It is still kesar doodh.

Which saffron to use

For milk you want the all-red cut, because there is nothing else in the glass to hide behind. Our [Mongra saffron](/products/pampore-saffron) is what we use at home, and the [Mamra almonds](/products/almonds-mamra) are the ones that go into ours. If you are curious why Mamra costs more than ordinary almonds, we wrote about [how the two compare](/blog/mamra-vs-california-almonds).