Badami Haalu/ Almond Milk

Remember the jingle 'I am a complan girl' naah! I am not a 'complan girl' I was a 'Nutramul' girl once up on a time, before that I was a badam milk girl... Now in my quest for healthy alternatives, I am going back to Badam milk or Badami halu as we say in Kannada!!
It was a routine for mom every morning. She used to get up at god-knows-what-hour, bath-pooja, fetch milk from our neighbours who tended cattle and sold milk every morning, then pet 'Munna' our neighbour's dog who was the goon of his days.. he had this reputation of having bitten at least one person per household in our entire neighbourhood, but was as sweet as a lamb with his 'dad' -'mom' and my 'mom'...somehow mom is a natural dog-friendly person.. not me. Then she used to break open the almond shells and prepare Badam milk. The timing was required to be perfect, six-sigma specification. By the time me and my kid sister woke up, the milk was required to be luke warm, not hot not cold. If the milk is late, my sister would wake and start her chant 'amma aavu' 'aavu' because she could not pronounce 'haalu' or milk!! she would keep saying the phrase till she is given her milk. That is fun to remember. Poor thing mom, I think we always kept her on tender hook.


You will need

Milk 250 ml
Almonds 10 numbers chopped
Saffron 6-7 strands
Dates dry 4 chopped
Sugar/ honey/ Kalsakkare- the crystalline sugar that we get in India, it is not as sweet as normal sugar.

Method:

• In a thick bottomed pot, combine all ingredients and simmer.
• Keep stirring till the sugar/kalsakkare is completely dissolved.
  
• Bring it to a gentle boil and turn off the heat.
• Serve it hot/room temperature or refrigerated.