Wondering how to spice up your chai time? Mini Ribeiro brings you recipes of ideal tea-time snacks.
ALSO SEE: The 10 best places to have chai
No evening is complete without a cup of warm chai and some delicious snacks.
We bring you five tasty chai-time recipes.
Try it out at home and let us know how well you fared.
Chilli Bhajji
Recipe: Courtesy Infinitea, Bengaluru
Ingredients
- 40 gm boiled and mashed potatoes
- 1 cup gram flour or besan
- 40 gm cottage cheese
- 20 gm cream cheese (optional)
- 5 gm onions finely chopped
- 4 chillies
- Oil
- Oregano
- Salt to taste
Method
- Mix potatoes (boiled and mashed) with mashed cottage cheese.
- Season with salt and dry oregano.
- Add finely chopped onions. If you have cream cheese handy, add it as it makes for a lovely addition.
- Slit 4 chillies carefully down the middle and remove the seeds. Leave a few seeds in if you want it to be more spicier.
- Pour some water into a cup of gram four. Keep whisking until you are happy with the consistency.
- Keep adding water but take care not to make the batter runny. Season with salt.
- Heat some oil for deep frying. Dip the stuffed chillies in the batter and then fry until golden.
- Eat hot. You can pair it with a cup of masala tea.
Podi Idli
Recipe: Courtesy Cha Bar, Delhi
Ingredients
- 300 gm urad (washed)
- 100 gm idli rice
- 1 spoon ghee
- 1 pinch mustard seeds
- 5-6 curry leaves
- A pinch of salt
Podi masala
- 100 gm coriander seeds
- 100 gm dry red chilli
- 20 gm cumin seeds
- 20 gm fennel seeds
- 10 gm black pepper corn
- 15 gm Bengal gram
- 5 gm asafoetida
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 3 cloves cloves
- 30 gm turmeric powder
Method
For idli
- Soak the rice and lentil separately for four hours. Wash it nicely.
- Grind the lentil into a fine paste.
- Then grind the rice a bit coarsely. Mix both together, add salt and keep it for fermentation.
- Apply little oil on idli mould and place this mix gently into the mould.
- Steam it for around 15 minutes. Take it out from steamer.
For podi masala
- Boil all the above ingredients together and make it a fine powder.
- Take a spoon of ghee in a pan and heat. Then crackle mustard seeds and curry leaves.
- Add 16 idlis and podi masala. Add a pinch of salt if required.
- Toss it all together and serve.
Sugiyan (a popular tea-time snack from Kerala)
Recipe: Courtesy, Executive Chef, Suresh Thampy, Courtyard by Marriott, Mumbai International Airport
Ingredients
- 250 gm moong dal
- 100 gm grated coconut
- 30 gm palm jaggery
- 50 gm refined flour
- 250 gm rice flour
- 4-5 cardamoms
- Salt to taste
Method
- Soak moong dal in a vessel for about 5 to 6 hours.
- Cook the moong dal in the pressure cooker for 2 whistles (if you keep it for more than 2 whistles, the moong dal will get overcooked).
- Make sure the water is not too much and the moong after cooking should be thick in consistency.
- Prepare a dry mixture of moong dal, grated coconut, powdered cardamom and grated palm jaggery. Divide into small portions and make it into a pattie. Keep aside
- Make a thick batter of rice flour, refined flour and salt by mixing little water.
- Dip the pattie in the batter and make sure you get a uniform coating.
- Deep fry till the coating is golden brown. Serve hot with tea.
Smoked Tea Pizza
Recipe: Courtesy Tea Trails, Mumbai
Ingredients
- 1 thin crust whole wheat pizza base
- 3 red tomatoes
- 20 gm chopped onion
- 15 gm chopped garlic
- 1 small garni (bouquet) Darjeeling black tea
- 10 ml olive oil
- 5 gm salt
- 2 gm crushed black pepper
- 10 gm basil
- 5 gm oregano
- 75 gm Mozarella cheese
- 2 gm Lapsang Souchong
Method
- Blanch and de-seed the tomatoes. Chop and keep aside.
- In a pan, heat oil and add the chopped garlic and chopped onion.
- When the onion softens, add the chopped de-seeded tomatoes.
- Saute for a while and add stock/water. Add the tea garni. Simmer for one hour.
- Remove the tea garni, season and cook further for a sauce like consistency.
- Take a thin crust pizza base and fork on it for a better hold.
- Spread the pizza sauce, uniformly on the pizza
- Sprinkle the Mozarella cheese on top of sauce uniformly.
- Top it up with shreds of Basil and leaves of Lapsang Souchong.
- Place it in an oven pre-heated at 200 degrees for 10 minutes.
- Take out and serve.
Roti Helicopter
Recipe: Courtesy NRI, Mumbai
Ingredients
- 70 gm naan dough
- 2 gm sugar
- 1gm salt
- 20 gm kaya (coconut jam)
- 50 gm vanilla ice cream
For coconut jam
- 4 eggs
- 150 gm coconut cream
- 200 ml coconut milk
- 200 gm Demerara sugar
- 3 Pandan leaves
- 10 gm corn flour
- 50 gm castor sugar
Method
- Whisk the egg with the Demerera sugar, coconut cream and coconut milk.
- Strain the mixture.
- Set up a double boiler.
- Caramelise castor sugar and add into the bowl on the double boiler.
- Slowly add the egg mixture and continuously mix using a spatula, make sure the egg doesn't curdle.
- Add knotted pandan leaves and cook on the double boiler stirring constantly for 20 minutes till the mixture thickens slightly.
- Make a slurry (semi-liquid mixture) of corn flour and add to the mixture. Cook for another two minutes.
- Take it off the flame and transfer to another container.
- Let it cool.
For the roti
- Take naan dough and roll it out paper thin; apply lots of oil on it.
- Place the flattened dough on a hot griddle.
- Cook on each side till cooked and sprinkle a mixture of salt and sugar on one side.
- Cut the roti in half on the griddle and roll into two cones.
- Finish on a plate with a drizzle of kaya and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
- Garnish with a mint sprig.
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