Irani Chai

Yum

                       

                  So this other day I was reading the e newspaper and I came across this article something about Irani Chai and Hyderabad and as always I stopped reading the news and started going after the recipe of "Irani Chai". There were so many recipes on the net and  almost had the same ingredients and method. I am a tea person and I like my tea strong and with foam on top. My husband did not like the tea, he said it was too thick for him. The tea is a bit thick and I wouldn't have it on a regular basis, once a month may be. But it tastes good with a hint of spices and nice aroma, not too sweet too. It's a simple recipe using very few ingredients.

Ingredients:(serves 2)
Full Fat Milk              -        2 cups
Condensed Milk        -         2 Tbsp.
Tea powder               -         1 Tbsp.
Cardamom pods        -         3
Ginger, crushed         -         1 Inch

Method:

1. First make the tea decoction, by adding a tablespoon of tea powder to 1 ½ cups of boiling water.
2. Add the cardamom and the crushed ginger. Close the vessel(to prevent escaping steam) with a lid and reduce the flame. Let it simmer until the water is reduced to half its amount.(keep checking in between else you will be left with only the soaked tea powder and no decoction like I had, I had to redo this step)
3. Meanwhile boil the milk on medium flame(you can use normal milk with medium fat) until the milk has reduced to nearly half its amount, add the condensed milk and mix well. 
4. The milk will become thick. Remove from flame and add the reduced tea decoction  to the milk and serve.
5. Add sugar only if required(most probably you won't be needing it)

Milk Tart/ Melktrt

Yum

Milk tart or melktrt is a famous tea time snack in South Africa. This recipe is  from one of Julie Duff's book on cakes with minor changes. This is a no bake tart pretty easy to make.

Ingredients:(Serves 8)
Pastry
all purpose flour    -     2 cups             
egg                         -     1                      
granulated sugar    -    ½ cup             
baking powder       -      2 tsp.             
butter, grated          -      125g.              
pinch of salt

Filling
all purpose flour -   2 ½ tbsp. 
 milk                   -   4 ½ cups          
cornflour            -   2 ½ tbsp.          
sugar                  -      1 cup             
eggs                   -     3
vanilla essence  -    1 tsp.
softened butter    -  1 tbsp.           
pinch of salt
            
Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. Cream butter and sugar well together add the egg and beat well.Add remaining ingredients and knead lightly to form a stiff dough.
3. Line one or two round cake tins/tart pans (using a fork prick the dough all over to prevent it from rising too much) and bake for 15 mins. or until light brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
4. Bring milk to the boil. Meanwhile beat the eggs well and gradually add sugar, flour, cornflour and salt and mix well.
5. Pour this mixture into the  boiling milk  and stir well on low flame until mixture thickens. Add butter and vanilla essence.
6. Pour this milk mixture into the cooked pastry shell.
7. Allow to cool and set in the fridge.(takes 1 to 2 hrs.)
8. Sprinkle the cooled tart with cinnamon and Serve!