Friday 26 March 2010

Fancy a cuppa?

Anjum Anand is a celebrity chef based out of London and we used to religiously follow her cookery shows on BBC from our Nottingham days. Her show 'Indian Food Made Easy' was quite interesting and she used to come up with the simplest recipes and healthy ones, for that matter. I remember trying out one of her dal recipes and it was easy and tasty.... I have to dig it up from the BBCiPlayer, try it out again and post it here for my personal reference.
I don't know if its the weather change or the power work out sessions where I sweat a lot and then walk out into the cold, that's causing this, but my throat has been acting a bit weird lately. Its either the start of a sore throat or even worse a cold. So yesterday after contemplating with myself on whether i should or should not take the over -size umbrella with me to the gym and then worry about it not fitting into my locker and dragging it all around, I decided to just use my hoody to protect myself from the rain....outcome of which was a sneeze after I got home and I knew I was gonna get into trouble if I didn't act fast. So I made this peppery, gingery, spicy masala chai after a hot water bath and boy did it feel great (the bath and the Chai btw!). I wouldn't say it cured my throat issue instantly, but it sure did ease it a bit and offered some sort of comfort. A couple of days more with the chai and im sure it will be taken care of. This Masala Chai, Anjum style, has come to our rescue a lot of times but most of all its unbelievably therapeutic on a cold, rainy day.

Masala Chai (adapted from BBC Food- makes 1 large Coffee Mug)
Milk- 300ml
Water- 150ml
Peppercorns- 4
Cardamom- 3
Fresh Ginger- 1 tsp, peeled and chopped
Cinnamon Stick- half inch
Sugar- to taste
Tea Bag- 1

Lightly crush the peppercorns, ginger, cinnamon, fennel and cardamom in a pestle and mortar and add to the milk and water. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil.
Turn the heat down and simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes, making sure the milk doesn't boil over.
When the volume has significantly reduced to about a cup, add the tea bag and simmer for some more time. If you don't need strong tea, take it out after a minute.
Strain into a cup and add the sugar. Serve Hottttt!


Notes: The original recipe calls for a pinch of fennel seeds which I omitted, since I didn't have any.
I also reduced the cardamom pods significantly since I didn't want it to over power the ginger and pepper.
I use whole milk and I don like my tea milky, so i sometimes reduce the milk significantly.

16 comments:

Cool Lassi(e) said...

Lovely Chai! Feel Better soon!

Priya Suresh said...

I need that cup rite now!!!fantastic!!

Hayley said...

We love our masala chai..without it feels like cake without sugar...are you from Nottingham? my hubby is!we do go there to watch cricket matches at Treant Bridge..

TREAT AND TRICK said...

Hi..chai looks perfect, lovely photo too...

Unknown said...

lovely pic!

MyExperimentsWithFood said...

Lovely cup of chai. My favorite drink.

Simplyfood said...

Masala chai the best drink of the day.I love it.

Ms.Chitchat said...

First time to ur space and loved the simple recipes. Following u to instantly enjoy them.

Chitchat

Trendsetters said...

nice recipe...ginger is my fav...

Sanchita said...

Like your blog. Glad to follow you.

Miriam Korula said...

nish...i have always wondered about masala chai, neither of us drink tea n' hence never wanted to try it...does it really help for a sore throat? i remember reading somewhere Anjum Anand is the Nigella Lawson of indian cuisine or something similar..lol...will have to check out some of her recipes...:)

My Kitchen Antics said...

she does look a bit like nigella..but i think her mannerisms are def not like nigella's ...u know what i mean right;)
Hmm it does soothe the discomfort...but like i said, doesnt cure it altogether..

Sarah Naveen said...

This spicy chai , will surely take away all those cold ....
nice one...I ahve read some cooking books by Anjum anand..its good...

ARUNA said...

Wow that's a great cuppa!

AdukalaVishesham said...

Hey we are back.. Thank you for that wonderful comment, we both were busy with some work here... hopefully we will be able to post some recipes this week...
Now back to that hot cuppa, rite now its raining heavily here i would love to have that hot cup of chai.. nice pic

Gomathy S said...

Tea is my favorite drink and I add ginger to it daily when I make,,