Turmeric milk (haldi doodh)
Preparation Time
2 minutes
Cooking Time
9 minutes
Difficulty Level
easy
Meal Type
Drinks
Serves 2
Key Ingredients
- Turmeric Powder
About This Recipe
Haldi doodh is the Indian home drink of milk simmered with turmeric, usually with ginger, pepper or cardamom in the pot. This version makes it in the order that avoids the one fault of the drink: the gritty turmeric sediment at the bottom of the cup.
The powder is whisked into a little cold milk before the pan is heated, so it disperses instead of clumping in hot milk. The pan then simmers for two minutes, just enough to deepen the colour, and the pepper goes in off the heat. Freshly ground pepper gives a cleaner, sharper cup than ready-ground. A fine sieve makes the drink silky; a whisk alone leaves a light sediment that settles as you sip. A quarter teaspoon of turmeric (0.75 g) and an eighth of a teaspoon of freshly ground pepper (0.25 g) flavour each 240 ml cup.
Sweetening is a matter of taste: a teaspoon of jaggery powder (5 g) adds 4.2 g of carbohydrate to the cup, and a teaspoon of honey (7 g) adds 5.8 g. Full-cream, toned or plant milk all take the turmeric the same way; only the body of the cup changes. For more on the spice, see haldi, and the pairing behind this cup is explained in turmeric and black pepper.
Ingredient List
Serving Size:
1x
2x
3x
For the pot
- Milk — 2 cups
- Turmeric Powder — 1/2 tsp
- Black pepper, freshly ground — 1/4 tsp
- Jaggery powder (or honey or sugar) — 2 tsp
- Fresh ginger, grated — 1 tsp
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Serving Suggestions
Drink it warm in a mug, with a spoon for the last stir and a rusk or two plain biscuits alongside. It also works lightly sweetened and barely warm on a hot evening. The turmeric recipes roundup has the tea, water and laddu versions of the same spice.
Tips for Cooking Turmeric milk (haldi doodh)
Cold start, hot finish: whisk the turmeric into cold milk so it disperses, then heat; powder dropped into boiling milk clumps. Simmer, do not boil: lower the heat as soon as the milk begins to rise, or a skin forms and the powder sticks to the pan. Grind the pepper at the end. Sweeten in the cup so nothing sticks to the pan.
Chef’s Note
The smoothness is decided in the first minute: a lump-free paste in cold milk means no grit later, and the sieve catches whatever is left. The count below covers the turmeric, black pepper and jaggery in the cup; the milk itself is not part of it.
Per serving (approx.): 20 kcal, protein 0.2 g, carbs 4.7 g, fat 0.1 g, fibre 0.2 g. Computed from IFCT 2017 / USDA values for the listed quantities. Measures: 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 tbsp = 15 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml.
Happy Cooking
!!
ByCOWBERRY
May 02, 2026
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