Vegan Spiced Chai

I love a good cup of Indian spiced tea, chai masala. Not the horridly sweet stuff that is served up in cafes and coffee shops across the country often using chai-flavoured syrups, but the authentic chai masala infused with real spices.

It seems that everyone has a different opinion about what spices should be used in chai masala, and in what quantities. It's also a recipe that varies regionally across the sub-continent. Here is my own recipe that i adapted for a vegan friend a few years ago.


Vegan Spiced Chai
Serves 4

4 tbs good quality Ceylon tea
2 cups vanilla soy milk
green cardamom pods
cinnamon stick
fennel seeds or aniseed
peppercorns
fresh ginger
coriander seeds
cloves

Heat about 2 cups of water with vanilla soy milk and desired spices until hot, but not boiling. Add about 4 tbs of good quality loose Ceylon tea and allow tea to simmer for about 5 minutes, or until desired strength. Serve hot in mugs.

I usually use about 1 small stick cinnamon, 4 slices ginger, 6 cardamon pods, 12 pepper corns, 12 coriander seeds, 6 cloves, and about 1/4 tsp of fennel seeds or aniseed; but experiment and see what you like.

I find vanilla soy milk is sweet enough for this recipe, If you want a sweeter tea, add honey.

Just Peachy

Growing up in a diabetic household, we rarely ate desert. And when we did have an after dinner sweet, it was often fruit or recipes that Mum had adapted to have less, or no, sugar. Unlike these days where supermarket shelves seem to be full of sweet-tasting sugar-free products, in the 1970s and 1980s these products were hard to find--if they existed at all! Consequently, I find many deserts too sweet for my not-so-sweet tooth, even those made from scratch following traditional recipes. The sweetness often seems to overpower any other flavours.

This recipe is a delicious low sugar recipe from a favourite Mennonite cookbook of mine: More-with-Less Cookbook. It is sort of like a cross between peach pie and a light cheesecake, and relies on the sweetness of the peaches to tempt the tooth. When peaches are in season, it's heavenly. Even with canned or preserved peaches, it's divine. I usually make it with yogourt instead of sour cream. Sliced peaches work just as well if you don't have halves.

Peach Kuchen
Serves 6

1 ½ cup unbleached flour
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
½ cup butter or margarine
8-12 peach halves, canned or fresh
¼ cup sugar (or honey or maple syrup)
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 egg beaten
1 cup sour cream or yogurt

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and 2 tbsp sugar. Cut in butter. Pat mixture into the bottom of a 9” pie dish or flan pan. Place peach halves on top of pastry base, open side down. Mix the ¼ cup sugar with the cinnamon, and then sprinkle this mixture over the peaches. Bake for 15 minutes at 400 F.

Mix together the egg and sour cream or yogurt. Pour over baked peaches and bake for another 30 minutes.

Of Squash and Apples

It's been somewhat quiet at Amanda's Kitchen this week. Well, the physical kitchen has been busy preparing family feasts, which ironically means that the blog has not.

I'm still using up my pantry stock, so the food at my family celebrations this past weekend once again consisted of a lot of root vegetables and preserved foods. Browsing through my recipes, I was inspired by my recipe for Apple and Carrot Soup to try a variation with butternut squash instead of carrot. The result was fabulous. It also used up the last of my apples and squash from last season.

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
Serves 4

1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed
3 cooking apples, cored and peeled
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 tsp canola oil
1 T vegan margarine
4 c. water
croutons
fresh coriander leaf

Combine the oil and margarine in a large pan. Add the onions and saute for 5 minutes. Add the butternut squash and saute for a few minutes more.

Add 4 cups of water, the apples, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Puree the soup in a food processor or using a hand blender until you get the desired consistency. This soup can be served silky smooth or hearty and chunky.

Pour soup into bowls and top each with croutons and fresh coriander.

For an extra rich soup, use 3 cups of water instead of four and after puréeing the soup add in a cup of full-fat milk or soy milk or light cream.