Spiced Tea

(SOME of the tea from Asia pictured left)
I really like chai tea but often find it too be a bit too sweet for me when ordered at a coffee shop. The answer is to make my own. I found this recipe in a cookbook I already owned, Sundays at the Moosewood Restaurant. I had visions a few years ago of learning about a country every week and serving food from that country on a Sunday. I thought it would be a great way for Eleanor to learn about the world. The problem with that idea is that by the time she was old enough to understand it, she was so busy that lazy Sunday afternoons looking at maps and cooking native dishes wasn't going to happen. I suppose I could make it work if it were a priority...guess it isn't for me. I do try to vary our meals, as you know, so maybe I have achieved part of that goal...just in a way that is a bit different from the original plan. Hey, that pretty much sums up parenthood!

Too often Sundays are filled with swim meets and errands and getting ready for the week....and that's OK. Maybe I can page through this book and come up with a few things to try on a less scheduled basis. Weekly just won't happen in this household. I am going to browse through this cookbook and see what I can find. There is a lot in here that I have never tried.

Eleanor does enjoy this. So on a cool spring day recently (we have had a lot of those), she requested that I put ginger root on my grocery list so we could make spiced tea (as it is called in this book). We have a lot of tea...both loose tea and bagged tea due to Paul's frequent travels to Asia and to England. We made this version with black tea and even had some whipped cream from a can to top of the mug of tea.

In a saucepan in 4 c water add:
3" stick cinnamon
in a tea infuser add (1/2t cloves and 1 t coriander seeds)
1" piece ginger sliced into 4 slices
the original recipe also called for 1/2 t cardamom seeds and 1/2 t black peppercorns)
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add 4 tea bags and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Remove tea bags.

Use this mixture by pouring some of this mixture in a mug. Add some warm milk and serve. Sugar could be added to this mixture but we like it unsweetened.

I have made a larger batch of this and kept it in the refrigerator in a pitcher(without the milk) so we have it ready to go. I didn't do that on this round because I am hoping to be done with hot tea weather soon.

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