Dry Roast all the dry fruits for 2-3 minutes.

In a grinding jar, put all the roasted nuts, poppy seeds, fennel seeds, melon seeds, saffron, black pepper powder, cardamom powder and pulse it to make a coarse powder. Its advisable to pulse and grind the thandai masala else the oils from the nuts will make it into a paste instead of powder.

Store the Thandai Masala in an air tight glass container, refrigerated.

Grind the Digestive Biscuits into powder. Add the melted butter into the powdered biscuits and mix well.

Press the butter and biscuits into the base of a 6 inch Spring form pan into an even layer. Keep the pan in the fridge while preparing the cheesecake mixture.

Soak the saffron strands in warm milk for around 10-15 minutes.

In a bowl, Mix together Cream Cheese, Castor Sugar, Vanilla Essence, Lemon Zest until light and fluffy. 

Add the  Saffron milk mixture and thandai masala into the cream cheese mixture. Add 5-7 drops of yellow gel color into the cream cheese mixture and mix until incorporated.

Whisk the whipping cream until you have stiff peaks. With an electrical mixer it should take around 2-5 minutes. Make sure that the whipping cream is chilled for whipping it faster.

Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mix in 2-3 parts gently. Make sure not to whisk rigorously as it will deflate all the air that has been incorporated while whipping the cream.

Pour the cheesecake into the chilled tin where in the biscuit base was put earlier.

Cover the cheesecake tin with cling wrap such that it touches the top layer of the cheesecake. Place the prepared cheesecake in the refrigerator for at least 7-8 hours or overnight so that it sets.

After the cheesecake has rested in the refrigerator, cut a slice and serve.