Rustic Wood Fire Chai
I want to introduce a guest poster I'm bringing on board to my site to assist occasionally in creating new chai drink ideas and food recipes as well as reviewing and rating existing chai inspired food recipes we come across. His name is Grayson Walker.
I'm not super handy with my cooking and baking skills ( it takes me twice as long to make anything in the kitchen), so he'll be able to provide some valid opinions on some creative ways to incorporate that chai flavor we all love.
Grayson has some culinary training and (most importantly) is a fellow chai lover! Yay!
Starting this month with CHAI MONTH, he'll be contributing a few posts. Here's his first creative idea to make a chai . And by the way, when I tried this recipe it was by far the coolest way to have a chai I've had yet.
The Ultimate Chai for the Chai Enthusiast -Rustic Wood Fire Chai
by Grayson W.
It’s CHAI MONTH everybody! That’s what Jasmine told me anyways lol. So it got me thinking of some of the things I think of when I think of chai season. Well actually for the chai lover, chai is enjoyed year round but theres something extra special about chai flavors and those intoxicating aromas during the fall and winter months. The leaves are turning as is the weather, so your mind and taste buds might draw you to a warm cup of chai. Maybe you even think of a nice fire lit in the fireplace as the weather gets a bit nippy in certain parts at this time of the year. Well that’s what I was thinking, which made me wonder - how about a rustic take on such a classic concoction?
Then it hit me- FIRE and Chai... I mean how cool is that? One of my "toys" that I have is a wood fired oven. Now I do realize while some of you may indeed have an oven like this, MOST of you reading this probably don't have such a device. But as you'll see a similar effect that I'm shooting for can be had with a grill or an open fire of any sort. You could even use this idea if you go camping and want something fun and unique around the camp fire instead of just hot cocoa or mulled cider - why not instead try chai??
I wanted to see if there was any kind of base method to go off of to try this, so I googled real quick and found a recipe for wood fired chai by one of my favorite celeb chefs Jamie Oliver. He's got some real solid cookbooks, with some tasty recipes. I highly recommend his stuff over a lot of other celeb chefs.
Anyways, Jamie Oliver has his own line of wood burning ovens and has a bunch of good recipes for many different things to use in this kind of set up. For his take on chai, his method is basically you throw a bunch of chai spices in the pot, some tea, and some milk. Let it simmer by the fire and infuse all that smokey aroma. You can top it off with more tea and milk as you please. Easy! The longer it sits the better, as it takes on all that beautiful wood fire aroma. I've adapted his recipe a bit adding some extra spices and like mine a bit stronger as I feel his recipe didn't have enough for my liking. Really, you can add or subtract as you like with the spices as well. Its the method that takes this over the top.
All in all it’s really simple. If you don't have a wood burning oven, light a grill (preferably charcoal but gas could work). You can make this in conjunction with any meal you're bbq'ing. Just put this off to the side of the grill as you grill up whatever you like. I was making pizza and made the chai as my oven was reaching temp.
Get the coals hot and then add some soaked wood chips of your choice. Heres some flavorful wood chips I like to use . Apple wood, almond, cherry are all good choices. The wood chips you choose will create an amazing aroma.
Put your chai in an appropriate pot and bring it to a simmer over the coals ( probably about 10-20 mins depending on heat of your coals ). You'll get just as good flavor as I got in my wood burning oven.
Or if using a campfire or bonfire, just let your pot of chai sit right by or on top of some coals close enough so that you can bring to a simmer. Just keep an eye on it and don't let it get too close to largest flames.
The KEY with all these methods - the longer you let it slowly bubble by your fire of choice, the better the chai flavors and the smokey aromas!
As you watch the fire and the chai slowly bubbling you'll be salivating I guarantee it!
Recipe:
Serves 3-4 depending on size of cups. If you want to, you can keep adding more milk and tea to top off the spices.
1 1/2 cups of brewed black tea
3 cups of milk
2-3 cinnamon sticks
3-4 star anise
4 cloves
3-4 cardamon pods
1/2 TB peppercorns
sugar to taste or maple syrup for a fall flavor
Directions:
In a pot put all the ingredients and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
You can strain the spices before you pour or leave as is in the chai for a more rustic version.
If topping off with more milk and tea, leave as much of spices as you can in the pot to continue to meld the flavors.
Serve in mugs or cups and drink hot.
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