Delhiwale: Badaam milk’s lazy charm

It packs a punch for tired, stressed souls. Technically, it’s just milk and almonds, but for patrons it’s so much more.

There’s no getting around it. We love those sleepy markets where an entire day can be whiled away and where time seems to charmingly come to a halt.

For the past 20 years or so, Shyam has been preparing the Badaam Milk every morning right inside Quality Dairy & Paneer Bhandar.(Mayank Austen Soofi / HT Photo)

That’s not the only reason we frequently, and leisurely, turn up at Aurobindo Place Market in south Delhi. The building — constructed by Delhi Development Authority — is so aesthetically challenging that it offers pause for thought. The same is true for that gigantic concrete butterfly in the park outside.

But the real reason why we patronise Aurobindo Place is the amazing almond milk, a genuine elixir, sold at a modest dairy booth. It turns a lazy bumpkin into a bundle of energy and can even work the other way, gently calming the soul into a state of sweet drowsiness.

What’s the secret? Crushed bits of almond floating invisibly in thick creamy milk.

By the time you’ve half-finished the drink, the almonds nearly overwhelm you and utter contentment sets in.

Friends have reported the same uplifting experience with this remarkable beverage. Many of them have a set shopping ritual that ends with this drink.

For the past 20 years or so, it has been prepared every morning by the genial Shyam, right inside the booth — Quality Dairy & Paneer Bhandar.

Founded by Khajan Singh Aggarwal, it sells other dairy products as well (some swear by its paneer), but we place all our chips on the almond milk alone.