Madras Masala Paal (Masala Milk)

Masala Paal (Masala Milk) is a special beverage in many of the restaurants. My first experience of tasting masala milk is in Hot Chips, it was so delicious and lip-smacking. I have been thinking of sharing this wonderful recipe, finally I made it today. It is so simple and easy yet so tasty. I have seen slight differences in the masala milk taste served in chennai and other parts of India. I have given here the Chennai Masala Milk with whole masala like cinnamon, cloves, cardamom along with some saffron thread to get a nice colour and finally garnishing with pistachios. The restaurant version of this masala milk includes Saara Paruppu (Piyal Seeds) instead of pistachios. We can find Saara Paruppu (Piyal Seeds) generally mixed with beetle nuts. I don’t have stock of piyal seeds hence I have used Pistachios.

Recipe Card for Masala Paal:

Madras Masala Paal (Masala Milk)

Delicious and lip-smacking Madras Masala Paal is a popular beverage in most of the Chennai restaurants. Homemade Masala Paal is a healthy and soothing drink.

3 Cups Milk (Whole milk would be a better choice)
3 tbsp Sugar
¼ Cup Almonds
½ tsp Cardamom Powder
1" Piece Cinnamon Stick
3 Cloves
1 tbsp Pistachios (Finely Chopped)
Few Saffron Threads

Soak badam in hot water for 30 minutes and remove from water, peel the skin and grind it to a nice paste in a mixer. Take the ground badam paste in a bowl
Add milk to a sauce pan along with cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamom powder and keep it in medium flame and boil the milk till the milk reduces to 3/4th quantity. If you measure the milk it should be around 2 cups.
Once the milk reduces to 3/4th quantity, add ground badam paste along with saffron threads and sugar and bring it to boil.
Finally garnish with piyal seeds or pistachios and mix well and remove from flame
Our yummy Masala Milk is now ready to serve in serving glass. Fill in the serving glass and garnish with 1-2 saffron threads

Instead of whole masala, we can add 1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder and a pinch of cloves.
Always serve the masala pal warm. Consuming just before sleeping makes us sleep peacefully also good for curing throat infections.
We can add few peppercorns or pepper powder too. You can add half a teaspoon of pepper and a pinch of turmeric and serve hot. This will be a great remedy to cold & cough.
Usually in restaurants the masala milk is topped with Malai

Madras Masala Paal (Masala Milk)

Method with Step by Step Pictures:

Soak badam in hot water for 30 minutes and remove from water, peel the skin and grind it to a nice paste in a mixer. Take the ground badam paste in a bowl

Add milk to a sauce pan along with cinnamon stick, cloves and cardamom powder and keep it in medium flame and boil the milk till the milk reduces to 3/4th quantity. If you measure the milk it should be around 2 cups.