Sunday, December 15, 2013

'Tis the Season for Warm Beverages:
Homemade Spiced Chai Mix

Two drinks in a row! Well. Babies, it's cold outside. I mean seriously. We are reaching the part of the year when I stop mentioning in my classes that I am a native Californian because that conversation about why I would ever choose to live in this climate when I have known and experienced a more temperate one (a glorified, glorious one, in fact!) gets tiresome. Minneapolis has its draws, I assure you. But I don't think that my appreciation for the warmth that 8 degrees offers in comparison to zero is one of them. Anyway. As promised, brunch ladies and gentlemen from last Thursday - with reiterated apologies for not actually making it that night - please warm up with this. It's nothing short of delightful. More pictures to follow. (Not to ruin the surprise or anything, but: it looks like... chai.) 
xoxo
e-nc

P.S. Would you like to know how I came up with this recipe? Several years ago, my dear friend Alicia (hi, wifey!) bought for me a chai spice blend from a fancy spice store in her part of the world (the OC). It was the best chai I've ever had, and I have had a lot of chais. Fortunately, she bought me TWO packets of the mixture, so when I opened the second one, carefully now that I was cognizant of its status as precious gold, I actually counted all of the individual spices (even the anise and fennel seeds, before I measured them and realized they added up to a nice round teaspoon each), one by one, and then recreated the recipe with store-bought spices just to make sure there wasn't something secret I was missing. These are the kinds of things you must do to become a cooking instructor. DECONSTRUCT! FIGURE IT OUT! At least when WINGING IT hasn't paid off. The fenugreek is a recent addition brought to you by my own imagination and a recent personal fancy for fenugreek in just about anything I consume. Entirely optional, but subtly special if you can get your hands on it and are into random, exotic ingredients that look like mutant ninja bee pollen. Adds a nice hint of malt and caramel to the chai. Your choice.

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P.P.S. Buy in bulk if you make this. It is a cheap way to go (see below: six cents for the fennel - yes please!) and then you won't allow $8 worth of cardamom or fenugreek to go rancid in your spice cupboard over the coarse of the next three years. Remember the rule of thumb for spice shelf life: 6 months for ground spices and herbs, 1 year for whole. Or... just trust your nose.

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P.P.P.S. Don't skimp on the ginger, even if you think you don't love ginger. It's key, both for potency and sweetness.

Homemade Spiced Chai Mix
Yields: 4 cups chai concentrate; enough for 6 large or 8 normal servings

2-3 tablespoons crystallized ginger (¾ ounce)
1 cinnamon stick (3-4 inches)
2 bay leaves
7 green cardamom pods
20 black peppercorns
20 cloves
1 teaspoon anise seeds or 2 star anise
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon whole fenugreek (optional)

2 heaping tablespoons loose leaf tea (black or rooibos)
To serve: milk, sweetener of choice

Place all ingredients in a 2-quart saucepan. Add 4 cups water, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat, add 2 heaping tablespoons of your choice of black (more traditional) or rooibos (decaf, lighter-flavored) tea. Steep 5 minutes. Strain, stir in 3 to 6 tablespoons of desired sweetener (honey in my case). Combine one part chai concentrate with one part milk or non-dairy beverage of choice and serve over ice or hot (about 180 degrees). 

Saturday, December 7, 2013

A Drink for Health: Coconut Spice Elixir

This is to make you feel better when you're under the weather. Turmeric + raw honey + Himalayan sea salt for wellness. Coconut + chai spices for taste. It's delicious and theoretically nourishing and that's about all I have to say about it. Here are some pictures to further entice you where my words, I suspect, will fall short this evening. Now excuse me while I go give my neti pot some exercise. (What? That didn't make you all hungry?)

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Oh wait. One more thing. Don't leave this to simmer unwatched.

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A mess like this is the last thing you want to deal with when you and your children are all sharing a cold.

P.S. Good news: this post was a few days in the making and we are well now. Elixir indeed.

Coconut Spice Elixir
Adapted from Journey Kitchen
Serves 1 adult and 2 small children

1 can full-fat coconut milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
2-3 whole black peppercorns
2-3 whole cardamom pods, cracked
About 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon Himalayan pink sea salt
1/4 teaspoon each of whatever of the following spices you have and like: fennel seeds, cinnamon stick, anise seeds or whole star anise, cloves, whole fenugreek seeds
1 heaping tablespoon raw honey

Bring coconut milk, water, and all the spices to a low boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to steep for 5 more minutes. Strain. Stir in honey and serve.