Mira Manek's 'Winter's Golden Chai'
I just have to hear the word chai and I can almost smell the ginger fired cinnamon infused spice. Here, I’ve just spiced up a simple turmeric milk with an enriching blend of healing spices. At home, I have a blend of seven spices which I usually stir into my cup of tea to make an easy masala chai, the first recipe in my book in fact! but there’s simple ways to spice up your brew, grating ginger, sprinkling a little pepper, adding a dash of cinnamon. So here’s something you can easily make at home.
1 mug of almond, oat or any milk you prefer
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon grated ginger
tiniest pinch of black pepper
Generous pinch of cinnamon (and cardamom if you have it)
1-2 dates (or, if not blending the mixture, then use 1 teaspoon of brown sugar, coconut sugar, maple syrup or agave nectar)
Boil together all these ingredients so that the flavour of the ginger really comes through, then blend together in a high-speed blender for extra froth and so that the dates and ginger get blended. If not blending then you can use brown sugar or any other sweetener as mentioned in the ingredients. Then simply sieve into a mug (or leave the ginger pieces if you like to chew them) and drink.
ABOUT MIRA MANEK
Mira Manek is giving Indian food a facelift, making it lighter, brighter and healthier with her cookbook Saffron Soul and her sell-out Indian supperclubs, feasts and yoga brunches in London. Mira’s debut cookbook Saffron Soul is a celebration of flavourful home-cooked Indian food, bringing together her grandmother’s and mother’s traditional Gujarati thalis with her own modern inspired dishes. From beetroot coconut curry and masala grilled aubergine to shiro and saffron lime cheesecake, Saffron Soul covers a whole array of easy to make, beautifully photographed dishes, taking the spice box out of the context of curries and daals and into our modern day life. Mira is all about making Indian spices and food more accessible to all, and Saffron Soul is the start of that!
1 mug of almond, oat or any milk you prefer
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon grated ginger
tiniest pinch of black pepper
Generous pinch of cinnamon (and cardamom if you have it)
1-2 dates (or, if not blending the mixture, then use 1 teaspoon of brown sugar, coconut sugar, maple syrup or agave nectar)
Boil together all these ingredients so that the flavour of the ginger really comes through, then blend together in a high-speed blender for extra froth and so that the dates and ginger get blended. If not blending then you can use brown sugar or any other sweetener as mentioned in the ingredients. Then simply sieve into a mug (or leave the ginger pieces if you like to chew them) and drink.
ABOUT MIRA MANEK
Mira Manek is giving Indian food a facelift, making it lighter, brighter and healthier with her cookbook Saffron Soul and her sell-out Indian supperclubs, feasts and yoga brunches in London. Mira’s debut cookbook Saffron Soul is a celebration of flavourful home-cooked Indian food, bringing together her grandmother’s and mother’s traditional Gujarati thalis with her own modern inspired dishes. From beetroot coconut curry and masala grilled aubergine to shiro and saffron lime cheesecake, Saffron Soul covers a whole array of easy to make, beautifully photographed dishes, taking the spice box out of the context of curries and daals and into our modern day life. Mira is all about making Indian spices and food more accessible to all, and Saffron Soul is the start of that!
