01 January 2010
Recipe For Luxuriant Chocolate Chai Latte
The snow is still here and it's a white and cold Christmas and New Year period. We've travelled to Northumberland, my home county, where we have observed the traditional first footing in a harshly, cold and rural climate - I love it.
First footing is a Northumbrian superstition, where the first person to cross your threshold in the New Year must be a dark-haired man (and absolutely not fair or red haired or a woman), and he must bring gifts of bread, coal and money if the family is to be lucky for the year and have food, heat and wealth during the coming year.
But we needed a way to cheer ourselves up this morning after a short walk out in the snow, and this is what I came up with.
Ingredients
2tbsp organic Fairtrade strong black tea - Assam or South Indian would be good*
350ml/ 12½ fl oz freshly drawn water, brought to the boil
120ml/ ½ fl oz full/ whole milk
1tbsp organic cocoa powder + some extra for dusting
Whipped cream (optional)
Boil the freshly drawn water in a pan on the hob. Then switch off and add the strong black tea - allow this to stew away for 5 or so minutes.
Add the milk, chai spices and cocoa and simmer gently for 3 minutes.
Pour straight into mugs or large tea cups. If you're feeling decadent, you can add a dollop of freshly whipped cream and sprinkle some cocoa or cinnamon over the top.
Relax, enjoy and smile. We enjoyed our chai latte with some orange biscuits and some lemon biscuits that we had made earlier in the day.
* I used a high grown South Indian from the POABS Estates - it was a FBOPF, ie some small fannings from a traditionally processed tea. Fannings are great for this sort of tea as they get the colour and flavour through quickly, while the sweetness of the chai tones down the slight bitterness of the leaf.
