On occasion I check out http://www.adinnerparty.blogspot.com . Well, today I was not disappointed! She gave some fabulous recipes for a Vegetarian Indian Feast that I think sound divine. The funny thing is she starts out saying when she has guests over she usually cooks something with meat, I have recently realized that I tend to cook vegetarian when people come over; not purposefully vegetarian as if to portray that I am against meat, but rather I find the dishes to be a little more exotic and flavorful as vegetarian dishes tend to rely more on interesting spices, shapes and color than when you depend on meat to the be the main thing. Anyway, the Indian Feast menu included:
Mango with spicy salt and sugar
Chutney and goat cheese with aloo paratha
Yellow dal
Indian baked rice
Indian spiced cauliflower and potatoes
Raita
Chai tea
She has yummy looking photos too (not that you would eat the photos themselves, but rather the food in the photos). I plan to make these dishes very soon and will let you know how they turn out. Anyone have a good recipe for homemade Chai Tea?
Hi Cheryl! Thanks so much for the nice post. Glad you liked the menu--I'm interested to hear how yours turns out!
ReplyDeleteFor my chai, I just used Twinings tea bags and served it with milk and honey. And a bowl of those nice little sugar-coated fennel seeds from the Indian market.
Take care!
Lisa
Hi Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteBeing that I live in India, I thought I could help you out. My nannies drink chai every day so I have been taught how to make it. What people here in India refer to as "Chai" is different than the chai you would get in say Starbucks or the like. So, thanks to Lilly, my nanny, here is the recipe that would serve 4 people:
1. Put 3 cups of water in a pan. This is not 3 measuring cups worth of water, but fill a coffee mug or tea cup as high as you would like it to be when you serve it. Then dump it in the pan and do it 2 more times.
2. Put one large spoon of loose tea (ground) in with the water and boil. Lilly uses just a black tea. If it comes in a tea bag, she will cut the bag open and dump the tea into the pan.
3. Add 3 spoons of sugar while it is boiling. Lilly prefers roughly ground sugar, not the fine ground that we use in the States.
4. Boil until the smell is strong (5 minutes or less)
5. Pour through a strainer into your cups. Add milk (3/4 tea, 1/4 milk)
Variations: If you want chai masala, crush 2 cardamom seeds and put in with tea while it is boiling. If you want ginger chai, crush fresh ginger and put in while boiling. I like to add a little cinnamon to mine to make it taste more like the Chai in the States.
Hope this helps! Becca