Soothing Masala Chai Latte

[Deleted User] · August 2018

Here's a lovely masala chai recipe that is authentically Indian, @Laine

I've been having this for some time now, but reduced the number of black peppercorns and cardamoms because for me, the spices are a bit too strong.

Lovely any time, or on a cold rainy day or just when you feel like perking up.

Adapted from Amrta Siddhi cooking class and featured on Yummy Supper Blogspot

Reference: http://yummysupper.blogspot.com/2011/02/masala-chai-latte.html

Serves 4, or makes 2 big lattes

Have fun playing around with the spices and flavour combinations until you get a chai that you love. Who needs to buy packaged chai after knowing how easy it really is to make yourself.

Ingredients:

3 cups water

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated

6 cardamom pods, crushed in mortar and pestle

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder

2 pinches fresh grated nutmeg

6 pieces star anise

8 black peppercorns

1 1/2 cup milk

assam or darjeeling tea- 6 teaspoons of loose tea, or 6 tea bags

sugar, as desired (I like to add a couple of tablespoons of coconut sugar into the spice mixture)

Optional for serving: cinnamon stick and star anise.

Place water, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon powder, nutmeg, star anise, and black peppercorns in a medium sauce pan over medium high heat.

When the liquid comes to a boil, add milk. Let everything return to a boil. Then add tea and simmer for 1 minute.

Pour your chai through a strainer into a clean bowl or a metal pitcher like the photo below. Then pour the chai back into a clean pot/bowl. If you continue to pour the chai back and forth like this a few times, you will froth the milk a bit - thus the "latte." I found out that in India, this is the technique the chai vendors use. Clever.

[Deleted User] · August 2018

Special Cereal Bars

NOTE! If you have an allergy to peanuts, don't make it, don't eat it.
Makes 16
4 oz / 125g unsalted butter
5 oz / 150g soft brown sugar or light muscovado sugar
4 oz / 125g no-sugar-added crunchy peanut butter
2 1/2 oz / 75g honey, plus a little more to finish
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
7 oz / 200g porridge oats (not jumbo)
5 oz / 150g dried fruit, such as raisins, sultanas and chopped apricots, prunes or dates, either singly or in combination.
5 oz / 150g mixed seeds, such as pumpkin, sunflower, poppy, linseed and sesame

Preheat the oven to 160C/gas mark 3. Grease and line a baking tin, about 8 inches / 20cm square.
Put the butter, sugar, peanut butter, honey and grated citrus zests in a deep saucepan over a very low heat. Leave until melted, stirring from time to time.
Stir the oats, dried fruit and three-quarters of the seeds into the melted butter mixture until thoroughly combined. Spread the mixture out evenly in the baking tin, smoothing the top as you go.
Scatter the remaining seeds over the surface and trickle with a little more honey. Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden in the centre and golden-brown at the edges.

Leave to cool completely in the tin (be patient it cuts much better when cold), then turn out and cut into squares with a sharp knife. These bars will keep for 5-7 days in an airtight tin.

Laine · August 2018

Thanks for these floxy! I knew you could buy chai tea bags but I never knew whether I could make a latte or not so have often been going to Costa which is pricey and a bit of a far walk haha

I'll definitely get the ingredients and give it a whirl

The cereal bars sound great too and packed full of yummy healthy things, I'll give them a try while me and Aidan are apart 😂 x

[Deleted User] · August 2018

Laine said:

Thanks for these floxy! I knew you could buy chai tea bags but I never knew whether I could make a latte or not so have often been going to Costa which is pricey and a bit of a far walk haha

I'll definitely get the ingredients and give it a whirl

The cereal bars sound great too and packed full of yummy healthy things, I'll give them a try while me and Aidan are
apart 😂 x

Hi @Laine uh-ohh my mouse cursor has jumped up into the quote. Another forum bug?

That chai latte is lovely, but you may need to adjust the spices to your taste. Finely chop the fresh ginger or you'll get bits floating around that escaped the strainer. Lovely flavour though, once it's all brewed. I buy Vahdam's Tea. It's great and good prices, too.

An Asian shop is the best (and cheapest) place to buy spices. As we are Indian curry pigs, too, our local shop is nice and handy. Sometimes when buying a lot of spices, the Indian owner might offer a glass mug of freshly brewed tea. Wonderful! I make Indian tea traditionally in a saucepan.

In India it's tradition to look after your customers well and family-owned stores even offer tasty morsels. Indians are great business people. I went to Kerala (now sadly flooded) and was amazed at the vast choice of spices and so cheap, too! Also Mumbai, formerly Bombay.

If you look around you can find spices online and postage is standard rate, but shop around.

The cereal bars are moreish. Perfect for grazing on throughout the day. As I'm diabetic, Sophie substitutes the sugar for maple syrup, yum thats real nice!

The problem with guys is they'll snaffle anything, but don't always own up to it. Girls are just as bad. Sophie.

I've quite a few snacking recipes so will look 'em out.

Laine · August 2018

I'm a big snacker I can eat anything lately 😂 which is good since my eating has been rubbish my whole life I'm finally a healthy weight and I actually thank my implant for that

[Deleted User] · August 2018

That's really good to know, @Laine

[Deleted User] · August 2018

Authentic Swiss Fudge

I nearly weep because I can't eat this for being diabetic, but I'm passing the joy on to you to make this incredibly good, authentic Swiss Fudge. If properly made and exactly to this recipe, the fudge will taste buttery and feel delightfully crumbly in your mouth. It has an almost a floury texture which melts in the mouth with the similarity of chocolate. It's very sweet, so don't eat too much or you'll get hyper.

NOTE: the amount of sugar in this recipe is critical: no more than 907 g

Additional notes:
If your fudge is grainy, you melted the sugar too quickly. Start again.
If your fudge didnt set, you didnt boil it for long enough. Start again.
If your fudge still didnt set, you didnt beat it for long enough. Yup. Start again.

907g caster sugar
125 g unsalted butter
1 cup of full cream milk (fresh milk not homogenized)
400g tin of sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon authentic Bourban vanilla essence

CAUTION: Remove all children, pets and clumsy people from the room. They tend not to mix well with vats of boiling sugar!

In a heavy based pan (and wearing kitchen gloves) slowly melt sugar, milk and butter.
Once it comes to the boil, add the condensed milk.
Slowly bring to the boil again, stirring constantly.
Still stirring carefully, boil for 15 minutes or until mixture darkens to a butterscotch colour. (This can take much longer in some cases, and I have no idea why)

To test if mixture has boiled for long enough, drop a teaspoon full into a glass of cold water. If its ready, it will form a ball.

Remove from heat and add vanilla essence.
Beat until your arm nearly falls off and the mixture has thickened to a very thick custard-like state (approx. 15 mins).
Pour into a greased tin and cool.
Cut into squares.
Store in an airtight container.

Maybe I'll pop just one square. Then jog round the block.

Soothing Masala Chai Latte

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