Chai Concentrate

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I grew up on Chai. Chai literally means “tea.” I always found it funny when people say “Chai tea.” It’s basically saying “tea tea.” That concludes the snarky language lesson portion of this evening. 

If you don’t know, chai is basically black tea brewed with spices. It’s very very yummy. Once you have good chai, regular un-spiced tea tastes like cruel and unusual punishment. 

I used get chai lattes from Starbucks (or as my grandma calls it: Starpack. I don’t know why.). Then I started getting the Tazo chai tea concentrate and now I’m full-on making the concentrate from scratch. Wish me luck!

You will need 6 cups of water, 1/4 cup of loose leaf black tea and the following spices:

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What you see there is 3 cinnamon sticks (Obvi. Are people still saying obvi? I am.), 3 star anise, 15 cardamom pods, and a teaspoon each of whole cloves, allspice, black peppercorns, coriander seeds and fennel seeds.

I find that it’s worth it to invest in these whole spices because you can use them in so many ways in different cuisines (Indian, Mexican, Middle Eastern etc.). If nothing else, these whole spices last years (yes, years, because they are whole and protected in their shells) so you can keep making batches of chai for a long time.

Anyhoo…. Preheat the oven to 350F and crush the cardamom pods to release the inner seeds.

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Toast the spices in the oven for about 5 mins or until you can smell them. Keep an eye on them though because they can go from being perfectly toasty to being tragically burnt. 

Once they are toasted they should look “a little something like this” (did you say that in a melodic way? I did. In my head.):

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While the spices cool down, bring the water to a boil in a saucepan.

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Once the water has come to a boil, turn the heat off and add the tea and spices.

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Steep for a few minutes. Not too long or else the tea will become bitter. I usually taste it after 2 minutes to see how I like it.

Once the tea is as strong as you like, strain and sweeten it.

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You can use honey or sugar or whatever cancerous artificial sweetener you like. I used coconut sugar because it’s supposed to be low on the Glycemic Index or whatever. Or because the jar was cute and colorful. I’m a sucker for packaging ok? I would buy dog shit if it was in a cute and colorful box.

So anyway, eheheh …eh , back to the chai. I usually sweeten it more than I would like it because it’s going to be diluted with milk. See, that’s me thinking ahead. *digitally patting myself on the back*

That’s it, you’re done! Plenty of chai lattes in your future!

Store the chai concentrate in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2-3 weeks.

Serve with steamed milk and garnish with cinnamon and nutmeg. Or serve with cold milk over ice for an Iced Chai Latte. Or swirl in the concentrate into a batch of homemade ice-cream. Or pour hot concentrate over vanilla gelato for a twist on affogato (google it). OMG I want to make chai affogato right now! BYE!!!!

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Teriyaki Chicken

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I love the ‘yaki. The teriyaki. Oh yes I did….. So, this recipe is a really easy from-scratch recipe that is also very tasty!

I used these items below as well as a spoonful of corn starch, which isn’t pictured below. Ahem.

Also, the bottle of teriyaki sauce is optional I had like a spoonful left from my pre made cooking days and thought I’d just throw it in the mix to use it up. It didn’t make a huge difference in the flavor so I would just pass on that ingredient.

That’s why it’s not included in the list of ingredients below. Whew. Glad I got that off my chest. I feel better now.

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For Teriyaki Sauce:

2 cloves of garlic, grated
2-3 inch piece of ginger, grated
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar/mirin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
S&P
1/4 teaspoon sesame seeds (optional)

You should also really grate the ginger and garlic if you don’t mind please. Thank you. Grating them makes them melt into the sauce when you cook it making the flavors permeate the entire sauce and your soul too. 

Tip: Peel ginger with the edge of a spoon. It’s the easiest way and you end up wasting less ginger.

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Mix all the sauce ingredients into a bowl:

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Preheat a large skillet on medium heat.

Next, you need to slice and dice the chicken thighs. You can cut them into strips but I prefer to dice them. It’s your call. I’ve already mentioned this before in my other posts, but I really do prefer to cut up raw meat when its still mostly frozen. Much less sliminess and the cuts and nice and clean. Look:

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 Place chicken in a ziploc bag and spoon a bit of the sauce over the chicken, not too much. Seal the bag and massage 😉 the sauce into the chicken for about 30 seconds. 

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 Add the chicken to the HOT skillet and flatten into one layer. Leave the chicken untouched for at least 5 minutes to allow a crust to develop. Then stir the chicken and allow to cook a bit more until the chicken is cooked through.

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 Once the chicken has cooked through and most of the liquid has evaporated add the rest of the teriyaki sauce.

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Cook until desired consistency is reached and then taste for flavor. If too sweet and a drop or two of sesame oil. If too salty add some water. You get the idea, adjust and flavor and when it’s where you like it add a pinch of black pepper and the green onions and sesame seed if the mood strikes. (I served this with white rice so I wanted a really intense flavor that would be mellowed out by the white rice).

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Enjoy!

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Ground Lamb Kebabs w/ Salad

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Kebabs, kabobs whatever you call them, they’re good. They are also a great (and inexpensive) way to introduce lamb into your diet. Of course, if you don’t want or like lamb this recipe works well with any ground meat. Beef, chicken, turkey or pork. You can even get crazy and try some other things! Bison kebabs anyone? No? Whatever.

So you need these things, as well as cumin (which I forgot to include in the picture because I’m not perfect and neither are you). Also, if you happen to have it, sumac is always a nice addition to any Middle Eastern dish.

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Begin by putting the meat in a bowl and add all the seasoning to it.

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Now would be a good time to talk about why the hell baking soda is involved in this situation. The purpose it serves is to help the lamb mixture meld together and stick to the skewer. Without the baking soda, the meat would be much harder to adhere to the skewer. Moooving on…

Grate the half an onion and 3 garlic cloves into the meat. You could finely chop them too, but it’s just not the same. Grating them makes them “one” with the meat. If you don’t grate them it’s like having a bunch of people at a party who don’t know each other and they’re all standing alone being awkward. When you grate them, it’s like a family where everyone is connected by a strong bond. Ahem. 

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 Dice up some parsley and split into two equal portions. Add half to the meat mixture and save the other half for a side salad.

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Now, this is the part of your kebab-making journey that gets a little messy/gross/fun, it all depends on how you look at it, life, and the world at large. Or maybe just how you feel about touching raw meat. It’s not my favorite thing to do but I don’t freak out about it. It’s all about balance people.

So here are some pics of the mixing and kneading process. This needs to be done for about 5 to 10 minutes. Until the meat is very homogenous and sticky and ewwy, but also yummy!

I’ll keep the pictures of the raw meet small.

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This is what the kneaded meat looks like:

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Nothing fancy. Now you wanna heat up some oil on a griddle and form the kebabs till the oil is smoking’ hot. Literally. I just used a drizzle of olive oil.

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Once you’ve formed all your kebabs and the oil is hot. Go ahead and start cooking!

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About 2 minutes on each side until browned and cooked through. They can always be finished and/or reheated in the oven btw.

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Now for the salad. Dice up some cucumber, tomatoes. Slice up the other half of the red onion into half moons and add your leftover parsley.

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If you have sumac add it. It gives a nice tart spice if you’re into that sort of thing.

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OMG the sumac matches my mani! I’ve always wanted to work as those people who name nail polishes and make-up. This nail polish is Bordeaux by Essie, but it should soooo be called Sumac by N.C. I rhymed. Look for it ;).

Now add some lettuce (I used romaine) and toss the salad.

To serve you can make some basmati rice with saffron, and a yogurt sauce with garlic, mint and cucumbers. Tonight I just had some flat bread with the side salad. It was yum.

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