How to Reduce Stress: Make your own Chai & Get Out In Nature
/Folks. I promised you some recipes (Martha's Kale Salad and Roasted Crispy Skin Chicken Thighs) and I have not delivered. They are still in the cooker (ha! pun intended) but I am honoring my need to sloooooow down this week. Big things are happening in my personal life, and that means I need more time for processing, which means less time for writing blogs, and taking great food pics.
To tide you over, I offer you this simple recipe to make your own soothing, naturally decaf chai. It is making a major difference in my world this week, and I hope it can help you too!
Golden Chai
Ingredients:
- Fresh Turmeric Root (2 pinky-finger sized pieces, or the equivalent)
- Fresh Ginger Root (twice as much as Turmeric)
- 8-10 Cardamom Pods
- 2 Cinnamon Sticks
- honey (optional)
- milk (optional)
- Black tea (optional if you want to add caffeine it--I used PG tips)
What you need:
- Mesh Strainer
- Soup pot/sauce pan
- Knife & cutting board
Directions:
- Dice Turmeric and ginger root. Don't worry about peeling them, you will strain it later
- Put Turmeric, Ginger, Cardamom pods, and Cinnamon Sticks in your sauce pan, and add 6 cups of water
- bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to med/low so the tea enjoys a nice bubbly simmer.
- Simmer for at least 10mins, longer will yield you deeper flavors from the spices.
- Pour through a mesh strainer directly into a large a preferably beautiful mug. Add a generous splash of whole milk, and a teaspoon of honey. (Can add black tea bag at this point if you wish, and allow to steep in your mug for 2 minutes.
This recipe has lots of room for variation. I'd love to hear what you add/subtract in the comments, as well as anything you wish I had included in the recipe.