Thai Iced Tea (with Black Tea bags & Star Anise)

Blogging Marathon# 48: Week 4/ Day 3

Theme: 1 Cuisine -- 3 Dishes

Dish: Thai Cuisine -- Thai Iced Tea

For the final day of this month's blogging marathon under 'Thai cuisine' theme, I have a cold, refreshing Thai Iced Tea. I wanted to try a Thai dessert, but then couldn't get my hands on the ingredients, so after a little search I ended up on this Thai Iced Tea recipe by Giada.

Traditionally Thai tea is made from strongly brewed Ceylon tea. However, due to the high price of the Ceylon tea, a locally grown tea known as Bai Miang is commonly used along with added food coloring to make Thai Tea. It is flavored with either orange blossom water, star anise or crushed tamarind seed. This tea is sweetened with sugar and condensed milk and served chilled. Evaporated milk, coconut milk or whole milk are generally poured over the tea and ice before serving to add taste and creamy appearance.

Read more »

Xperience Hyderabadi Irani Samosa & Chai

Blogging Marathon# 32: Letter X
Theme: A-Z Vegetarian Dishes of Andhra Pradesh
Dish: Xperience Hyderabadi Irani Samosa & Chai

For letter X, I was thinking of (e)xperimenting with a new ingredient or a new dish. But as I mentioned in my previous post, it has been a busy month and by the time I started to think of what to make that would fit the Andhra dishes theme, I drew a complete blank. My mom suggested couple of traditional Andhra dishes that we could try, but as luck might have it, we didn't have enough time to make them.

As I was thinking of different words that start with 'X', I stumbled on (e)Xperience and then I thought of Hyderabadi Irani Samosa & Chai experience. The main reason for me to associate (e)xperience with tea is my 1 year old daughter. Recently she started saying 'aaaaahhh' everytime she drinks something, be it her milk or water. I guess she saw one of us say it when we drink our morning coffee/ milk. It looked so cute to me that she's really enjoying the experience of drinking. And that is how I thought of doing Hyderabadi Irani Chai & Samosa.

Hyderabad is famous for its Irani cafes that are scattered all around the city and mainly in the old city. People sipping hot, milky Irani Chai, munching on crispy, crunchy onion Irani Samosa and gossiping with friends is a very common site at these cafes.

Read more »

Chinese Green Tea

During my visit to China, there were two things I absolutely wanted to buy: Chinese green tea and something made with Jade.
I am not a big tea drinker, may be once in a while. Before leaving as I was googling for things that I can buy from China, I found out that China is the birthplace of tea and produces the world's finest green teas. The Chinese have known about the medicinal benefits of green tea since ancient times, using it to treat everything from headaches to depression.
Green Tea contains a particular type of polyphenol - EGCG which is a very powerful anti-oxidant: it kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue and is also effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels, and inhibiting the abnormal formation of blood clots.
Green tea has the greatest benefits compared to other Chinese teas like Black or Oolong. All of them come from the same plant (Camellia sinensis), but green tea leaves are steamed, which prevents the EGCG compound from being oxidized. By contrast, black and oolong tea leaves are made from fermented leaves, which results in the EGCG being converted into other compounds that are not nearly as effective in preventing and fighting various diseases.
For more information read here and here.

With this information in hand, I couldn't come back without Green tea. I bought a bag of Chinese green tea from a local store in Shanghai. The lady in the store even put a pamphlet with the instructions to make the tea, of course written in Chinese (Not sure what made her think I can read that ;-) ).

Back in the States, I made my first ever green tea, not the regular Chinese style, but "Kashmiri Kahwa" style. This is Tarla Dalal's recipe with Kashmiri green tea, I replaced it with the Chinese version. This Chai helps to relieve headache and maintain fluid levels in the body.

Ingredients:
Kashmiri Green tea - 4 tsp
Cinnamon - 1" stick
Cardamom - 2 pods crushed
Cloves - 2
Ginger - 1" piece
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Water - 3 cups
Saffron - pinch (mixed in water)
Almonds - 8 blanched and chopped

Method:

• Add cinnamon, ginger, cloves and cardamom to water and bring to a boil.
• Pour water over the tea and leave to infuse over a very low flame for about 10minutes. Add sugar and mix well.
• Strain the tea and add saffron water along with chopped almonds.
• Serve hot.

I have never had Kashmiri Kahwa before, so I can't say if Chinese green tea matches up to its taste. But it was definitely refreshing and you can taste all the different flavors going on in the tea.