Properly spiced & Ready to go

It's chilly out.

Even here in California. 

Cold. Dark. Rainy.

I am hunkered down enjoying the quiet of January. Everything has slowed to crawl giving me some  much needed time to re-do my poor neglected website. As I rummage through my thousands (this is not an exaggeration) of photo files and write copy I find myself wanting 

to sip on something to warm me up. 

Chai.

Not the overly sweetened weak oddly spiced kind you often find
at coffee shops or in a box at the grocery store. 

But a simple five ingredient chai.
(All my favorite recipes have five ingredients.)

Warmed with ginger and a hint of cardamon and brewed with a strong straight forward black tea. I like to to add milk to soften the tea

and drizzle some honey in it for a touch of sweetness.

Here is how I make it.

Ingredients

5 or 6 1/4" slices of fresh ginger

approximately 15  whole green cardamon pods

3 bags of PG Tips black tea

6 cups of water

milk to taste 

(soy, nut or coconut milks are yummy too)

honey to taste

 

 Place the water, ginger and cardamon pods in a two quart heavy bottomed saucepan and bring it to just under a boil.  When it begins to boil turn the heat down to a low simmer.  Cover the pot (otherwise a lot of it will evaporate) and simmer slowly for about 45 minutes.  Do not cook too long otherwise the ginger will be too strong and overpower the balance of the chai.

 Once the cardamon and ginger finish simmering add your three bags of PG tips.

(I sometimes use loose leaf black tea from this company if I want a stronger brew.)

Let the tea steep in the infusion for about 3-5 minutes 

depending on how strong you'd like it to be.

Then remove the tea bags.

Let the chai cool a bit then pour it through a strainer into a pitcher for storing in the refrigerator.  

I use this ceramic teapot to store mine. 

 When I want a cup of chai, I take my pitcher of brew out of the refrigerator and pour some into a small enameled pan, add some milk and honey, warm it up and then it's ready to sip while I continue uploading photos to my website.

 Of course, I like to drink my chai out of one of my new tumblers.  If you can't make your own chai yourself, my tumblers are made to go (they fit in a car cup holder) so you can take the tumbler with you to your favorite cafe and order a coffee.  ;-)

 Here's to staying warm, properly spiced and ready to go.

Yogurt

I make yogurt about once a week. 

I usually make it at night before I go to bed.

Then, when I wake up in the morning, I  am greeted by the most

perfect, smooth, not tart, creamy, yogurt known to humankind. 

Okay, maybe a bit of an exaggeration.

Well, not really.

The first bowl of homemade yogurt, fresh from the oven
is like nothing else you've ever had.

I like to eat mine with sliced banana and a few slivers of almonds.

Need I say more?

Okay, I will.

Heaven.

Here's how to make it yourself.

Utensils

Large ceramic (or glass bowl)

Wire whisk or fork

Heavy bottomed sauce pan (I use my 2 quart)

Oven 

(gas oven is preferred but if you have an electric oven no worries, there is a way)

Lidded glass container for storage
(A ball jar or recycled glass jar works nicely)

Ingredients

1-2 quarts milk 

(can be lowfat or whole milk) 

I usually use organic milk but any milk will do.

1 small 6 ounce brown cow plain yogurt
(I tried this with other yogurts as a starter and though they worked, 
the brown cow starter produces a milder yogurt, which I, personally, prefer.

(The brown cow is only necessary the for the first batch of yogurt as a starter.  

After you make your first batch of yogurt you will use 

some of the yogurt from your last batch as your starter for your next batch and so on)

Process

Pour milk into sauce pan and heat until a 

frothy foam forms on the top of the milk.  

Don't let it boil.  You want frothy foam.  It's very recognizable. Don't worry you'll 

know it when you see it.Transfer the heated milk to a glass or ceramic bowl 

and let it cool until warm.  Like perfect baby bottle warm. Not hot and not very warm.

But softly warm.This is very important because if the milk is too hot it will result in a curdled lumpy mess. Don't make the same mistake as me.  It's not necessary. Plop (it plops out of the container, you'll see) your plain brown cow yogurt in a small bowl and take a cup or so of the softly warm milk and whisk it together with the yogurt until it is completely combined. Then add the milk and yogurt mixture to the rest of the milk and do a final quick whisk to move all those active cultures around so they can have a party in warm milk.

Then

  *Place the bowl in your oven (don't turn it on) and close the door.

Go to bed.

When you wake up in the morning remove the bowl from the oven and dip a spoon the perfect creamy mixture. 

Go on taste it!

You will be so proud of yourself for creating such perfection.

I promise.

 A few added notes

I've found if I turn my oven on and let it warm up then turn it off and open the door to let it cool and place the yogurt mixture in a slightly warmer than pilot light warm oven it produces a firmer yogurt.

Also, I once boiled the milk in my sauce pan right after had cooked ginger and cardamon pods for chai. The cardamon and ginger residue from the pan, ever so slightly, infused itself into my yogurt. The result was wonderful.  I think this could be mimicked by adding one or two cardamon pods to the milk while you heat it then removing them before you place your yogurt mixture in the oven.

*If you do not have a gas oven simply warm your oven up as I've describe above and then let the oven to cool until just warm, put your yogurt in the slightly warmed oven and close the door. But NO peeking. You need to keep the heat in if you don't have a pilot lighted oven.

P.S. If you would like some handmade bowls to eat your yogurt from, you can find them here.

P.S.S. Thank you, Amisha for sharing your recipe with me and for bringing this perfect thing into my life.

I have been changed forever because of it.