Brew green or black tea. Make date syrup. Make hot chocolate. Put them together for Chocolate Chai!
Ingredients for Hot Chocolate:
4 cups almond milk (or nut or grain milk of choice)
2 tablespoons annato seeds (optional)
1 vanilla bean, split, plus scraped seeds
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon rosehip seed (spice, optional)
2 cinnamon sticks
1 ½ teaspoon aniseed
1 red chile pepper, or to taste; or 1 teaspoon chile flakes
4 oz dark unsweetened chocolate
3 rounded tablespoons 100% dark cocoa powder
pinch Himalayan pink salt
Method:
1. Steam the milk with achiote seeds: Place almond milk and annato (achiote) seeds in a pan on the stovetop and bring to steaming hot. Simmer for about 8 minutes until the annato seeds color the milk a bright orange.
2. Strain out the seeds and return the pan to the stovetop.
3. Add spices: Add vanilla bean and scraped seeds, rosehip seed, cinnamon, aniseed, and chile pepper to the heated colored milk.
4. Add chocolate bar and cocoa: Add the dark chocolate. It should easily melt–stir to be sure. Whisk in the dark chocolate cocoa powder to blend smoothly.
5. Bring to simmer: and maintain low simmer for 15-20 minutes. You want the spices to decoct or diffuse their essence into the milk and chocolate.
6. Take off the heat and allow to rest a few minutes. Pour over a fine-mesh strainer to catch the solids of now-spent spices. Discard solids.
7. Pour into a heat-proof container with a cover. Store in the refrigerator. Keeps about 1 month.
Per Serving: Cold Chai
1. Pour 2/3 cup hot chocolate drink, 1-2 tablespoons of date paste (or to taste), and 1/3 cup cold previously-brewed tea and serve. Stir to mix. Pour into a tall serving glass and serve.
Per Serving: Hot Chai
1. Brew your choice of traditional black or green tea. Keep hot.
2. Pour ½ cup of hot chocolate recipe into another pan on the stovetop and add 1-2 tablespoons of date paste, or to taste. Add ½ cup or more previously-brewed tea. Stir to mix. Pour into serving cups and serve.
The spices for hot chocolate
were inspired by Maricel Presilla’s Vanilla-Scented Hot Chocolate in her book, The New Taste of Chocolate, reviewed here.
Brew black or green tea:
For cold chai, cold-brew your tea overnight in the fridge. Simply fill a sterile, clean glass jar with a lid, with pure water. Add 1 tablespoon of tea per cup of water. Twist on the lid, shake jar and set in the refrigerator for 10-12 hours to infuse. Use this according to Per Serving suggestion above for cold chai.
For hot chai, boil pure water, infuse with black tea leaves and set aside. Alternatively, allow water to cool slightly and infuse with green tea leaves and set aside. Use this hot-brewed tea according to Per Serving suggestion above for hot chai.
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