Masala Chai

My Gourmet magazine came in the mail yesterday, and may I say, if there is a magazine that deserves to go under in this blighted economy – it’s that one. To read a complete recipe, you have to flip through more pages than a choose-your-own-adventure novel. Then, when you’ve flipped back and forth ten times, you find an ingredient or two (or all) that you have never seen or heard of in your life and that is impossible to get, thus causing you to ditch the entire recipe. Dried rose hips? Really? Annatto seeds? And then they have articles like “if you had $1000 to spend on a meal in your city, where would you splurge $700 on dinner?” Correct me if I’m wrong, but haven’t bank executives been skewered by the media for less? Is that really appropriate for this economy – or any economy? And every recipe requires every pot and pan in the cupboard, along with one or two specialty items that NO ONE HAS…

Ok, enough of my diatribe against Gourmet. I could go on (I really could), but I’d rather tell you about the one appealing recipe I found before I chucked the rest of that pretentious rot in the bin: Masala Chai. And I still had to tweak the recipe to be more user-friendly, and spicier (they forgot to add the cayenne chili powder, which makes Chai so much better).

Masala Chai for Two

½ tsp ground cardamom (or 5 pods, seeded and ground)
1/4th tsp ground cinnamon
2 white peppercorns
1/8th tsp fennel seeds
1 cups milk
1 tsp dark brown sugar (or to taste)
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8th ground red pepper (cayenne)
1 cups water
2 teabags strong black tea

Need a mortar and pestle

Grind together cardamom, cinnamon stick, peppercorns and fennel seeds.
Bring milk to a simmer (careful not to boil over!) in a heavy saucepan. Stir in brown sugar, spice mix, ginger and 1/8th tsp salt. Reduce heat to low and simmer gently, stirring occasionally for 3 minutes.
Brew tea using the 1 cup water and 2 teabags. (really easy to do in a microwave)
Add the tea to the milk mixture and cook over low heat for a minute.
Pour chai through a tea strainer into your cup or teapot.

This post is part of the Wanderfood Wednesday food blog party.

Fresh Strawberry Daquiri

With all of the fresh strawberries at the Farmers Market, a daquiri was the perfect drink to go with my enchiladas. --AnglophileLV

Strawberry Daiquiri Ingredients:

2 oz light rum

1 oz lime juice

1/2 oz triple sec

1/2 tsp superfine sugar

1 cup ice

5 strawberries (at least)

Mix all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Pour into a tall glass and garnish with strawberry.

The Perfect Mai Tai

The Perfect Mai Tai

If you've ordered a Mai Tai in a regular restaurant, you haven't had the real thing. Even if you go to Hawaii and order one, chances are, you haven't had the real thing. This is because most places use mixes and completely ignore the classic recipe. I first learned what a Mai Tai could be on Kauai at Tahiti Nui - a genuine, hole-in-the-wall, Tiki Bar on the North Shore that serves the best Mai Tai on the island. In fact, that's pretty much all they serve. The waitresses look confused if you order anything else. So I didn't. After my boyfriend and I got back from Kauai, I was left with a bad craving for Mai Tais. We looked all over the web and finally found a recipe from a former bartender of Trader Vic's - where the Mai Tai was created. Here is the real deal, with some pineapple juice thrown in. --AnglophileLV

1 Part Lime Juice
2.5 Parts Dark Rum (Appleton Estate 12 year Jamaica Rum)
1 Part Orgeat syrup (Torani makes one)
1 Part Orange Curacao
1.5 Parts Simple Syrup
A Dash of Pineapple Juice (mango juice is also tasty)

Garnish glass with a wedge of Pineapple and a marachino cherry - and an umbrella just for fun.

WanderFood Wednesday

Strawberry and Banana Lassi

It finally feels like summer here in Southern California. I live in Los Angeles on the top most floor facing the North-west (I'm guessing. I'm horrible with directions). But what I do know is that the apartment gets REALLY hot in the late afternoon-evening. And when it's hot, you drink tender coconut water to keep cool and when you don't have access to fresh coconut water, you get tanked on lassis! This is a sweet drink as opposed to the spicy version I posted earlier.

Makes about 3 glasses
Ingredients
1 cup of yoghurt (I always use plain, but I suppose you could use flavored ones)
1/2 Lb of strawberries (give or take) (remove the green bits)
1-1.5 bananas
1/2 cup water
about 8 ice cubes
2-4 tbspn of sugar depending on how sweet or tangy you like your drink.

Method

1. In your blender (ESSENTIAL GADGET FOR THE SUMMER), add the roughly chopped bananas, strawberries, yoghurt, water and blend (chop, puree, liquefy, mix, whatever as long as the fruits disperse into the yoghurt). Then do a taste test. Add sugar accordingly and also put in ice cubes and blend.

Pour into glass and ENJOY!

Spicy Buttermilk/Lassi

aka Thaak aka Morre. Here is yet another reason why I won't survive as a vegan. If you order a thali or any meal in south India, this is the drink (spicy, I'm sure there are subtle changes) you get with your meal. In the north, you get the sweetened version which is popular in U.S.A.


Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1 cup plain yoghurt (i used fat-free)
4-6 curry leaves
1tbspn chopped fresh cilantro/coriander
1 dried red chilli
1/2 fresh green chilli - sliced (i used serrano, if you think this is insane heat, just you about 2-3 slices)
Ginger - finely chopped or grated 1/2"
Salt to taste
Black Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
1 tspn vegetable oil
Water 1 cup or more.
Asafoetida optional a pinch

Method:

1. In a blender add the yoghurt and water and blend. Depending on how thin or thick you want your buttermilk, add more water.

2. Add the grated ginger, coriander, green chillies, salt to taste, asafoetida.

3. on the stove in a tiny pan (really tiny; or be innovative and use a regular pan, doesn't matter) add the oil and let it heat up. to this add the mustard seeds and red chilli. When the seeds start popping, add the curry leaves and stand back. after about 10 seconds, add this tempered/flavoured hot oil directly to the blended mix and stir.

Strain and serve (or not). Garnish with coriander leaves.

ps: Sorry about the crap pictures.

Lemon, Pear, and Rosemary Martini

Making good use of life’s lemons

When life hands you lemons, forget the lemonade and make a lemon, pear, and rosemary martini. And invite a few friends over to help you drink it, because this serves six.

--AnglophileLV

Aunt Lynn’s Lemonade
Syrup:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Discard rosemary and let cool.

Mix syrup with:
3 cups Vodka
15 Tb fresh squeezed lemon juice
4 Tb pear brandy (Poire William)

Garnish with sliced lemon or sprigs of rosemary. It’s handy to keep in the freezer for guests or an at-home happy hour.