Make buttermilk, add vinegar to milk and keep aside. Do not stir the milk.
Preheat oven to 350F or 180C . Line the muffin tray with liners.
In a bowl sieve together flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda and thandai powder, crumbled mawa or milk powder.
In another mixing bowl, mix together oil and sugar till sugar dissolves. Add essence if using, I skipped essence as the thandai powder has a nice aroma.
Add flour and mix buttermilk. Fold the batter lightly. The batter will be lumpy, that's how we want our muffin batter to be.
Add and fold finely chopped almonds and raisins.
Transfer the batter to the muffin tray. Fill each muffin cavity to 3/4.
Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.
After 25 minutes, check the doneness of muffins with a toothpick. Also the the top will be a slightly cracked and the muffins will have a characteristic muffin top.
Take out from the muffin tray , let it cool and enjoy the exotic chocolate thandai muffins with any shake, a cup of tea or coffee!!