Chai Latte Drink Mix

I'm a sucker for a good chai latte. There's something classically inviting about the smell of cinnamon, ginger, peppercorns, and cloves that is downright intoxicating. Since I tend to prefer tea over coffee, some variation of a chai latte is usually my number one pick if I'm choosing to be indulgent at a coffee house. I've probably tried over a dozen different variations of chai latte, and if I'm ever disappointed it's usually because the drink is too sweet. And because the vast majority of coffee houses use a premixed chai base, it's neigh impossible to get a less-sweet beverage that isn't less-chai.

Clearly, the answer was to make my own. I've gone through phases of making my own "chai latte concentrate" over the years with varying degrees of success. This latest version may very well be my favourite. It's equally delicious hot or iced, and will keep in the fridge for at least a week (if it lasts that long!), ready for use at a moment's notice.

One of the reasons this recipe worked so well for me was because all of these spices I used I already had on hand. Don't feel like you have to use everything in order to create a delicious drink. Though I used honey as my sweetener of choice, this recipe is easily adapted to be vegan-friendly by using another sweetener, such as maple syrup. I am personally not a fan of agave nectar, and there seem to be conflicting reports on the purposed health benefits, but I suppose that's an option too if you prefer. Traditional Indian chai often only uses one or two "extras" in addition to the black tea, like ginger or cinnamon, and traditional chai is still amazing. After all, "chai" literally means "tea." You can't go wrong with whatever you decide.

Chai Latte Drink Mix
Author: Amanda
Difficulty: easy
Serves: makes approximately 1 litre mix

Ingredients

• 4 black tea bags or 4 teaspoons loose leaf black tea leaves
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into thin discs
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 6 whole cloves
• 1 whole star anise
• 3 green cardamom pods
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 heaping tablespoon honey or maple syrup
• 1 litre water

Directions
Place cinnamon, ginger, peppercorns, cloves, and star anise into a medium sized pot. Use the flat side of a knife to crack open the cardamom pods and add them to the pot with the water. Bring the pot to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and add the tea bags. Simmer for five minutes, then remove from heat and strain out the tea and spices. Add vanilla extract and honey. Cool and store mixture in a sealed container in the fridge for up to one week. To make a hot chai latte, add two parts chai mix to one part milk/soy, and heat until steaming on the stove or with a milk steamer. For an iced chai latte, add two parts cooled chai to one part milk/soy over ice and serve.

Step-by-Step Photos

First, gather your players. I used cinnamon, ginger, cloves, peppercorns, star anise, and cardamom. Other possible ideas could be freshly grated nutmeg or mace, allspice, or even a bay leaf. Use whatever aspects you love in a chai tea or latte.

Crack the cardamom pods open with the flat side of a knife, and add everything to a medium sized pot with a litre of water. Cover, and bring the water to a boil.

Once the mixture has come to a boil, reduce it to simmering (bubbles barely breaking the water surface).

Add four black tea bags or four teaspoons loose leaf black tea and set a timer for five minutes.

After five minutes has passed, pour the mixture into another receptacle using a mesh strainer to catch all of the tea and spices. If you were using ground spices instead of whole, I would recommend lining the strainer with cheesecloth or a paper towel so the spices don't end up as sludge at the bottom of your chai.

Stir in one teaspoon of vanilla extract and one heaping tablespoon of honey. If you have a sweet tooth, you could even add a second tablespoon to bring this up to your liking.

For a hot chai latte, bring chai mix and milk (2 parts chai and 1 part milk or soy) to "steaming heavily" on the stove. I don't have a milk steamer at home, but if you do that would be great to use. You don't want to boil the mixture together because that could cause the milk to curdle. For an iced chai, simply pour mix and dairy of choice over ice.

Enjoy.

Beet Red Velvet Sweet Rolls

Don't let the name fool you into thinking these are a health food: these rolls are the definition of decadent. In fact, I highly advise baking them in containers you consider acceptable to give away (like foil pie pans) because you will be equipped to purchase all sorts of social favours with the help of these babies. They take everything you could want in a sweet roll and everything you already love about red velvet and combine it into a treat that could pass for breakfast about as easily as Reece's Puffs cereal.

The inspiration for these rolls came from a couple of different places. The Pioneer Woman has been a longstanding resource for everything cinnamon-bun-esque for me for years now, much to the enjoyment/chagrin of my coworkers since I usually bring them in to share. (As much as I love baking, I've grown past the days where it's remotely acceptable to think about crushing an entire cake myself over a weekend.) A few years ago when Red Velvet was becoming a big deal worthy of proper nouns, I tried my hand at it and was promptly disgusted at the prospect of using an entire bottle of red food colouring for one batch of cupcakes...and then realized that's very likely what all commercial bakeries are doing whenever I choose Red Velvet over, say, run-of-the-mill chocolate with cream cheese frosting.

I put off making my own Red Velvet baked goods for years partly due to the immediate apprehension I felt at consuming so much Red #5, but somewhere in my internet perusals I read an urban legend that before food dyes became widely popular, the birth of red velvet involved using beets to obtain that signature deep red colour. Filling that tidbit in my brainmeats for later, I finally remembered to pick up some beets on my most recent run to the grocery store. I started playing with the idea of a red velvet sweet roll, and finally took the plunge. Since starting this blog with Paige, I have tried some awful baking experiments that have never been published for various reasons, including coating the oven with a layer of caramel. And to be honest, I was so excited that these were turning out I skipped a step that will be addressed in the step-by-step photos so that you can learn from my mistakes. Thankfully, these treats are one afternoon away from making you the most popular person in the neighbourhood with minimal kitchen disasters involved.

Red Velvet Sweet Rolls
Author: Amanda, inspired from The Pioneer Woman's Sweet Rolls
Difficulty: easy
Serves: approximately 24 sweet rolls (about 3-4 standard size foil pie pans)

Ingredients
Dough

• 1.5 cups milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) yeast
• 1 cup pureed beets (about 3 medium beets, peeled, diced, boiled, and pureed)
• 1/4 cup raw or Dutch processed cocoa powder
• 3 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup additional all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter, melted, for pans

Chocolate Ganache Filling

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 oz dark baking chocolate
• 1/4 cup milk or heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• dash salt (optional)

Cream Cheese Icing

• 1/2 standard brick cream cheese (4 oz), softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup milk plus additional to thin as necessary
• 1.5 cups powdered sugar

Directions
For the dough: combine milk, oil, sugar in a medium pot and bring milk to a scald. Allow to cool until not hot to touch. Add yeast and allow to bloom for approximately five minutes. Add beet puree to mixture and stir well. Sift cocoa into first cup of flour and add flour and stir. Cover and allow to sit in a warm place until doubled in size, about one hour. After dough has risen, add additional flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Roll into a 10x30 large rectangle on a well floured surface.
Prepare the ganache by allowing butter to melt into a small pot or saucepan with milk, sugar, vanilla, chocolate, and optional salt. Allow mixture to barely bubble, and set aside to cool until dough is rolled out. Measure out 1 cup of ganache (recipe makes approximately 1 1/4 cups) and spread over rolled dough. Carefully roll dough towards you starting from the furthest side using a "typing" motion with your hands. Pinch the dough together at the seam. Use a knife to make roughly 1 1/4 inch slices along the dough. Spread melted butter into pans and place rolls into pans, leaving some room for rolls to rise. Cover with a tea towel and allow to rise in a warm place for an additional 30 minutes. Bake rolls at 375F for 15-18 minutes, or start to appear darker brown at the edges.
While the rolls are baking, prepare icing by whisking with a stand mixer together softened cream cheese and butter until well blended and fluffy. Add 1/4 cup milk, vanilla, and approximately 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Continue to whisk in powdered sugar in increments. Add additional milk as necessary to thin icing to a pourable consistency. Pour icing on rolls as soon as they come out of the oven, and gently spread around icing as necessary to ensure rolls are coated evening. Allow to cool for approximately 15 minutes before serving.

Step-by-Step Photos

First things first, you will probably need to make the beet puree. This can be done the night before (which I did, and took no pictures since the lighting was crap) and left overnight in the fridge. I peeled and diced four medium beets, and boiled in enough lightly salted water to cover until very fork tender, which was about 20 minutes. Then, I piled them in a blender and added enough of the boiled-beet-water to allow to blend until it reached a puree consistency. Easy peasy. Maybe a total of 15 minutes of hands-on time altogether. You can probably get about a cup of pureed beets with 3 medium beets. Isn't that colour just gorgeous?

Once you have your beet situation under control, allow some milk, oil, and sugar to come to a scald on the stove on medium heat. Scalding means about-to-boil-but-not-boiling-yet, so you should keep an eye on it. Turn off the heat and allow to to cool until hot but not too hot to touch, which is super scientific and not at all open to interpretation. You'll also want to choose a pot large enough to allow the dough to rise, unless you're planning on dirtying another dish.

Once the milk mixture is somewhat cooled, stir in one package of yeast. After about five minutes, it should bloom like this.

Stir in the beet puree.

Add the cocoa and flour to the mixture and stir until combined with a wooden spoon. I naively added my cocoa separately without sifting, and had to work out a few lumps that could have been avoided by sifting the cocoa into a bit of flour, which is correctly reflected in the directions. Raw cocoa or Dutch processed cocoa is necessary here, as regular cocoa powder will compete too much with the red colour from the beets. Cover the dough and let rise in a warm place until double in size. I like to turn on the oven for a couple minutes, turn it off, and then let the dough rise there away from any potential drafts.

While the dough is rising, you can prepare the chocolate ganache filling if you wish. Simply melt butter, sugar, vanilla, milk (or heavy cream), and dark baking chocolate into a small pot on medium-low heat. Stir consistently and bring it to bubble for just a couple of minutes before turning off the heat. As it cools it will start to firm up, so you may want to warm it up slightly once the dough is risen and rolled out. Good quality dark chocolate makes a big difference here, so don't be apprehensive about using the good stuff.

Isn't that a happy looking dough? It was this step where I made my not-so-fatal flaw due to being so excited that the red colour was persisting so beautifully, and I forgot to stir in the additional flour/baking powder/baking soda/salt. Learn from me. This will help the dough firm up a little bit and make rolling it so much easier.

On a well floured surface, turn out the dough and roll it into a large rectangle - approximately 10 inches by 30 inches.

Measure out one cup of prepared ganache and pour over the rolled out dough. What to do with the leftovers? Sinfully garnish the rolls, use it as ice cream topping, eat it out of the pot with a spoon...there are a few options to choose from.

Use a spatula to spread the ganache around the rectangle evenly.

Carefully roll the dough towards you, moving from one side to the other with a typing motion with your fingers, pulling as you go. Warning: this will get messy. You will have hands covered in chocolate. That isn't a bad thing. My roll ended up not as pretty as it could have been if I supplemented with the rest of the dough ingredients, but thankfully this recipe is forgiving. (Thank you, Pioneer Woman! She has fantastic pictures and a likely better description of the dough rolling process if my explanation isn't enough.)

Pinch the seam together as you approach the end of the roll. Hopefully your roll of dough and chocolate is less floppy.

Use a knife to make slices about an inch thick. How many slices you make out of the roll will determine how many sweet rolls you end up with.

Melt about 1/4 cup of butter and spread it along the bottom of your baking dishes. I used this pan plus two foil pie pans (not pictured).

Place the rolls into the buttered pans for another rise. (The floppiness of my rolls is the worst here - again, you shouldn't have this problem if you remember the additional flour and add-ins.)

Allow for a second rise of about 30 minutes in a warm, draft free place (like the oven!). Bake at 375F for 15-18 minutes.

While the rolls are baking, make the icing. Use a stand mixer with a whisk attachment to cream together the butter and cream cheese until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.

Add vanilla, milk, and a portion of the icing sugar. Whisk together, and slowly add additional icing sugar until 1.5 cups total is added. If necessary, scrape down sides with a spatula and add additional milk to thin to a pourable consistency.

Pull the baked rolls out of the oven.

And promptly smother them in frosting. Frosting hides the imperfections and makes all life problems go away.

Try to wait 15 minutes before serving to help the icing set and not burn your fingers off. These rolls are fantastic - rich, sweet but not too sweet, and decidedly "Red Velvet-y" without an entire bottle of food colouring.

Thai Green Curry with Mangoes & Cashews

Like many modern young women, I turned to waitressing to pay my bills while I went to college. I was fortunate enough to work at a great upscale Thai restaurant for nearly four years, and lovingly refer to this time in my life as my second bachelor's degree. Understandably, Thai food became a staple in my diet, so when I left the restaurant to pursue my career, I desperately needed to bring up my curry game. For weeks I researched recipes, techniques, and combined with what I was able to glean from the cooks (everything in the back of house was written in Thai), I was finally able to recreate the essence of my favourite curries. Everything in life made sense again.

The way I make my Thai curry is hardly traditional. I find it easier to prepare the curry sauce separately and allow the flavours to marry while stir frying the protein and vegetables separately, adding the curry sauce itself only in the last couple of minutes. This is because Thai cuisine revolves around four flavour pillars: salt, sweet, sour, and spice. I like to take my time tweaking the curry sauce by adding a little more of anything I feel might be missing, rather than boiling everything together in the same pan, per traditional Thai fare. Using prepared curry paste rather than a mortar and pestle is a great convenience, though adding extra fresh garlic and ginger helps the pre-prepared paste taste less so. Different brands of curry paste have different flavours and spice levels, so you may need to adjust accordingly. I have successfully kept a jar of curry paste sealed in the fridge for months with little discernible change in flavour or perceived freshness.

Even though I used chicken as the main protein for this particular curry, dry-fried tofu works great! The curry sauce can easily be made vegan by substituting vegetarian soy sauce for the fish sauce. The recipe following is essentially identical for both red and green Thai curries - you just need a paste in the respective flavour.

Thai Green Curry with Mangoes & Cashews
Author: Amanda
Difficulty: easy
Serves: 4

Ingredients
Green Curry Sauce

• 1 teaspoon coconut oil
• 1 can coconut milk
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 inch fresh ginger, grated or microplaned
• 3-4 kaffir lime leaves
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or 1-2 Thai chilies, diced, to taste
• 1-2 tablespoons Thai green curry paste
• 1-2 tablespoons fish sauce, to taste
• 1-2 tablespoons brown sugar, to taste
• juice of 1/2 lime, to taste

Stir-Fry

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 2 chicken breasts, cut into short strips
• 6 cups mixed vegetables (I used a mixture of red onion, bell pepper, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot)
• 1/2 cup diced fresh or frozen mango
• 1/4 cup roasted unsalted cashews
• jasmine rice for serving

Directions
Prepare the green curry sauce by melting a teaspoon of coconut oil in a small pot over medium-low heat. Simmer garlic, ginger, curry paste, and red pepper flakes in coconut oil for a few minutes until gently bubbling and fragrant. Add coconut milk, lime leaves, fish sauce, brown sugar, and lime juice. Bring the mixture until barely simmering. Adjust salt, sweet, sour, and spice notes to taste with fish sauce, brown sugar, lime juice, and red pepper flakes accordingly. Set curry aside on low heat until ready to add to stir fry.
Melt a tablespoon of coconut oil in a medium saucepan or wok on medium heat. Add raw chicken strips, and allow to cook most of the way through. Add vegetables and stir frequently on medium heat for approximately five minutes. Add green curry sauce and mix well. Add cashews and mango pieces, and heat through. Serve on rice.

Step-by-Step Photos

Start the curry sauce with a little bit of coconut oil (vegetable oil works too) and allow the garlic, ginger, curry paste, and red pepper flakes to simmer for a couple minutes. The mixture should be super fragrant and start to bubble.

Add a can of coconut milk, lime leaves, fish sauce, brown sugar, and lime juice to the pot. Not all green curry pastes make a curry this green, and I used to puree a handful of spinach and cilantro with a small amount of water and would add it in with this step, which really brightens up the colour. If you don't have lime leaves at home, I've found the zest of a lime will work in a pinch. Adjust the salt/sweet/sour/spicy components to your individual tastes. Once you are satisfied, turn the heat down to just keep the curry hot while you begin the stir-fry, and give it a stir every few minutes to make sure nothing burns on the bottom.

Begin the stir-fry by melting a tablespoon of coconut oil (or vegetable oil) in a saucepan or wok. Add the chicken and stir often, trying to ensure the chicken pieces cook equally on all sides.

Once the chicken seems to be about halfway cooked, add the mixed vegetables. I used a mixture of fresh and frozen vegetables, because I like having a larger variety of vegetables in my stir-fries, and having a mixed bag of frozen veggies in the freezer won't spoil and take up valuable fridge real estate.

After stir-frying for about five minutes, add the curry sauce to the mixture. If your pan is hot enough, the curry should start bubbling right away. Continue to stir often, and allow the curry sauce to help finish cooking the chicken and vegetables.

Add the cashews and mango. I had a bag of frozen mango pieces in the freezer and there happened to be about a half cup left in the bag. I find that there's not too much of a texture change in mango from frozen pieces as long as it's cooked.

Stir well to combine and ensure mango is heated through. (It doesn't need to be stir-fried like the vegetables or you risk making it mush.)

Serve over jasmine rice.

Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Risotto

Risotto is a pretty common occurrence in my world. Most of the risottos I've made (you can check them out with that nifty risotto tag) can easily be served as main dish with maybe some salad greens, but this one is decidedly light enough to be a side. Don't get the wrong impression though, as the goat cheese does add some well-deserved tart-but-creaminess. Some grilled chicken or fish would compliment the brightness of this dish beautifully. Remember to use vegetable stock if you are making this to be a vegetarian dish!

Risotto, like most things in life, is super intimidating until you make it for yourself and realize it's a (delicious) glorified rice porridge with cheese. If you can stand in front of a stove and stir, you can make risotto. (And even then, it's not always necessary. I've read about pressure cooker or oven risotto methods, but have yet to try them myself.) It's a relatively painless way to impress dinner guests with your cooking skills, plus you can tailor a risotto for virtually every occasion. You can find risotto in the rice or ethnic food aisle - look for a package marked "risotto rice" or "Italian style rice."

Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Risotto
Author: Amanda
Difficulty: moderate
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry risotto rice
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced small
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and diced small
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2-4 cups hot chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 cup soft unripened goat's cheese, divided
• salt and pepper, to taste
• cilantro or parsley to garnish (optional)

Directions
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and saute 4-5 minutes, until onion is translucent. Add diced and deseeded bell pepper and continue to saute for a few minutes. Add dry risotto rice and white wine. Stir frequently, and add chicken stock in 1/3-1/2 cup increments as liquid is absorbed. Continue to stir the risotto thoroughly until cooked to desired doneness, approximately 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn off the heat, and break off approximately 2/3 cup of goat cheese into smaller pieces. Add these to the risotto and stir well to melt and combine. Garnish with remaining goat cheese and parsley or cilantro as desired.

Step-by-Step Photos

Melt some butter in your favourite risotto appropriate saucepan. Saute the onion and garlic until translucent.

After a few minutes, add the diced bell pepper and continue to saute until the bell pepper has barely started to soften.

Add the dry risotto rice, and give it a stir to start soaking up the butter and vegetable juices if you remember before adding the white wine. Stir frequently until the majority of the wine is absorbed.

Add the hot chicken or vegetable stock in increments while stirring the risotto frequently to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan. This is the worst part of making risotto because patience is a virtue. If you rush this, you risk having a runnier sauce that could make the risotto soupy. Take your time, and sample it every once and again to test for doneness.

Continue to cook the risotto until desired doneness and the sauce is thick and not-soupy. When it's finished, turn off the heat.

Add approximately 2/3 cup of soft, unripened goat's cheese. Smaller pieces will help ensure it melts and is evenly distributed.

Stir just enough to combine.

Serve garnished with remaining goat cheese and some roughly chopped cilantro (my choice!) or parsley.