One of my favourite memories of travelling around India was the chai wallahs – the men who would come around selling paper cups of hot milky sweet spiced tea. Sometimes there would sell a coffee version, and sometimes one or the other would be without spices or even sugar, but every morning I woke up on the train I awoke to the call of the chai wallah yelling “chai! Garam chai! Garam chai!”
Trains definitely weren't the only place I could get chai, however, and they weren't the best either. When I visited the home of a friend or acquaintance, when I went to the hairdresser or was waiting in a shop, a cup of chai would often be offered. It seemed that each and every time was different, each person seemed to have their own ingredients and amounts. One friend’s chai was thick and sweet – made with extra sugar and more milk that water, another friend’s was more strongly tea flavoured – she boiled the teabag for longer and put the spices in near the end, my hairdresser’s was light and aromatic – she used lemongrass and no cardamon… Most of my Indian friends used the same type of tea – a loose semi-powdered strong black tea, but since leaving India I've seen chai made from decaf black tea, herbal teas, green teas, red roiboos teas, and, then there was La Fuji Mama:s barley tea chai with mugi-cha! When you think about all the different methods, spices, teas, and the variations thereof… well the variations of chai are endless!
Part of my preparations for the big Girl Scout event next month was to make a “chai recipe sheet” for us to include with the logo-ed mugs we are selling. I decided that just one recipe wasn't going to cut it, so ended up making a multiple-page little booklet with information about the spices, various chai spice mixtures, and then some info about Indian desserts as well. But to be able to write about various flavours of chai I had to try them myself first, and try out the basic recipe too. So I hosted a planning meeting at my place where we also made 8 (yes, EIGHT) batches of chai. Each batch was slightly different from the other and, for the most part I was the only one who knew what was in each. We numbered paper cups and each got 1/4 of a cup of each batch, which we tasted one by one, sort of like a wine tasting – discussing the spice mixture and flavour. In the end we came up with five mixtures that we liked, and I used those for the recipe book.
Hearing all about the chai-tasting, U demanded that I make him chai sometime, so I went out and bought all the spices for my own kitchen. I was worried when I did that I might end up making chai once and then having all the spices cluttering up my cupboard and gathering dust. I needn't have worried, however, as I've found myself making chai a number of times a week now. Sure it takes more effort than just brewing a cup of regular tea, but it is ever so worth the extra effort. Ever so worth it!
And while I would love to have everybody who reads my blog come out to the event and buy their own tea goods to get my chai recipes, I'm guessing it'd be just a liiiitle too far for some of you! So, here goes...
1 cup water
enough tea for one cup (bag or loose)
spices
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tbsp sugar (more or less to taste)
(I use skim milk instead of the 3.7% that is more common in Japan, so I switch my water and milk amounts)
1)Heat water in pan over low heat. When it starts to boil add tea and continue to simmer for 1 minute.
2)Add spices. Continue to simmer for 2 minutes.
3)Add sugar and milk. Stir occasionally and heat for 3-5 minutes (should be light brown in colour).
4)Strain and pour into mug.
5)ENJOY!
Spice suggestions:
-basic chai: cinnamon (stick) 6 cm, 3 whole cardamom, 4 cloves
-fragrant chai: cinnamon (stick) 3 cm, 3 whole cardamom, 4 cloves, 1 tbsp lemongrass
-sweet chai: cinnamon (stick) 3 cm, 3 whole cardamom, 4 cloves, 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
-warming chai: cinnamon (stick) 3 cm, 4 cloves, 1/2 tbsp ginger powder
-spicy chai: cinnamon (stick) 3 cm, 3 whole cardamom, 4 cloves, 1/4 tsp black pepper
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Showing posts with label India. Show all posts
Friday, 24 September 2010
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Puja
When I was in India one of the Canadian girls I lived/worked with had a problem with ants. The Centre's Indian staff decided that what was needed was a puja, a Hindu ritual. The puja was sure to rid the room of ants. The only trouble was that the puja involved leaving an offering in the room for a certain amount of time, an offering of part of a coconut and sugar.
The ants in India could find their way into a sealed plastic container. In the staff room the sugar for our tea was kept in a metal container in the freezer. A pile of sugar on the floor in the middle of the room? The ants found it in no time. And they called their friends, and their friends' friends, and their friends' friends' friends. The room was crawling with more ants than it ever had been.
Judicious use of anti-ant spray and much clean-up later, the room was ant free. It even stayed that way for a significant amount of time - meaning that the Indian staff INSISTED on the efficacy of the puja. Afterall the puja had been performed and now there were no ants, right?
Well I'm wishing I could have them perform a puja in my room. Not an anti-ant puja, mind you, but an anti-roach one. Just about every time I go to the toilet I find an itty bitty roach baby scuttling about (fairly easy to squish and flush but still I'd rather not have to do so every time I need to pee!) and I'm finding the odd bigger (but still not all that big really) one elsewhere - running across the kitchen wall, or scuttling into the shoe rack, or escaping into the folds of the curtain.
Roaches where a problem before I moved in, but besides the odd one last summer, they haven't been a problem since. But this year it seems they've decided to invade. I've laid traps and roach killer all over, and have spray at the ready, but it doesn't seem to be doing any good. Definately time for some divine intervention. I just need to dig out my diyaa and find a fresh coconut...
The ants in India could find their way into a sealed plastic container. In the staff room the sugar for our tea was kept in a metal container in the freezer. A pile of sugar on the floor in the middle of the room? The ants found it in no time. And they called their friends, and their friends' friends, and their friends' friends' friends. The room was crawling with more ants than it ever had been.
Judicious use of anti-ant spray and much clean-up later, the room was ant free. It even stayed that way for a significant amount of time - meaning that the Indian staff INSISTED on the efficacy of the puja. Afterall the puja had been performed and now there were no ants, right?
Well I'm wishing I could have them perform a puja in my room. Not an anti-ant puja, mind you, but an anti-roach one. Just about every time I go to the toilet I find an itty bitty roach baby scuttling about (fairly easy to squish and flush but still I'd rather not have to do so every time I need to pee!) and I'm finding the odd bigger (but still not all that big really) one elsewhere - running across the kitchen wall, or scuttling into the shoe rack, or escaping into the folds of the curtain.
Roaches where a problem before I moved in, but besides the odd one last summer, they haven't been a problem since. But this year it seems they've decided to invade. I've laid traps and roach killer all over, and have spray at the ready, but it doesn't seem to be doing any good. Definately time for some divine intervention. I just need to dig out my diyaa and find a fresh coconut...
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Twelve Days of Christmas - Day 1 - Traditions
Over the past few months, as my relationship has developed with U, and a number of my Japanese friends have remarked - either jokingly or with relief - that this likely means I'll be here for the long run, I have started reading the blogs of a number of foreign women married to Japanese men and raising bi-cultural kids in Japan. I'm certainly not anywhere ready to take any vows, but it has got me to thinking about the possibility of that future for me. Reading through past posts (can you tell I'm procrastinating from the thesis?!) written by these women I've realized just how difficult it can be to celebrate occasions and continue traditions important to only one parent.
Since I'll be spending my first Christmas in Japan (thesis is due January 13, not conducive to trans-Pacific travel!), and U, who has never celebrated Christmas before, and I will be spending our first Christmas together, I began to think about the traditions I want to hold on to, and some new ones I want to start.
Growing up, Christmas was a day of family. When I was very young my parents and I would fly to Vancouver to spend the holidays with my father's family. We moved to Vancouver the summer before I started grade one, and I still remember my excitement of living permanently in a city that for me was full of good food, presents, and grandparents and other relatives (I was the first grandchild) spoiling me rotten. We continued to spend Christmas with my dad's family, which grew to include my two younger cousins as well as aunts, an uncle, and my grandparents. Every year we'd gather at my grandparents, then in later years at my aunt and uncle's place. After my grandmother passed away, however, and my cousins and I grew up, getting all of us together for Christmas began to happen less and less. The past few years its been just my dad and I - with family friends joining us for dinner. This year will be only my second one away from Canada and my dad, my first being 5 years ago when I was volunteering in India.
This year, with my thesis hanging over me, I don't have a lot of time, but I don't want the holiday to slip by without recognition, so I'm plotting to include as many traditions as I can. With the cultural collision that is bound to happen, if they end up coming out looking nothing like what I'm used to, that will only make it all the more memorable - like door-to-door caroling at the homes of Hindu friends in the warmth of an Indian evening dressed in a red and green sari and reindeer antlers! So, stay tuned - while there may not be 12 days of Christmas for me this year, there will at least be a few, and who knows what will happen!
Since I'll be spending my first Christmas in Japan (thesis is due January 13, not conducive to trans-Pacific travel!), and U, who has never celebrated Christmas before, and I will be spending our first Christmas together, I began to think about the traditions I want to hold on to, and some new ones I want to start.
Growing up, Christmas was a day of family. When I was very young my parents and I would fly to Vancouver to spend the holidays with my father's family. We moved to Vancouver the summer before I started grade one, and I still remember my excitement of living permanently in a city that for me was full of good food, presents, and grandparents and other relatives (I was the first grandchild) spoiling me rotten. We continued to spend Christmas with my dad's family, which grew to include my two younger cousins as well as aunts, an uncle, and my grandparents. Every year we'd gather at my grandparents, then in later years at my aunt and uncle's place. After my grandmother passed away, however, and my cousins and I grew up, getting all of us together for Christmas began to happen less and less. The past few years its been just my dad and I - with family friends joining us for dinner. This year will be only my second one away from Canada and my dad, my first being 5 years ago when I was volunteering in India.
This year, with my thesis hanging over me, I don't have a lot of time, but I don't want the holiday to slip by without recognition, so I'm plotting to include as many traditions as I can. With the cultural collision that is bound to happen, if they end up coming out looking nothing like what I'm used to, that will only make it all the more memorable - like door-to-door caroling at the homes of Hindu friends in the warmth of an Indian evening dressed in a red and green sari and reindeer antlers! So, stay tuned - while there may not be 12 days of Christmas for me this year, there will at least be a few, and who knows what will happen!
my usual Christmas dinner role - making gravy
Only this time it accompanied fried chicken, had to be enough to feed 40 people,
and I had to try not to stain my festive sari!
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Hockey 'n Nan
In high school my friends and I went to hockey games a couple of times a year. We would take the bus across town and get to the arena hours before the game, before even the players had arrived. We would hang around the player's parking lot, waiting for them to arrive so we could get autographs. We would then spend an hour or so in the gift shop before watching the pre-game warm-up and then hiking up to the rafters to watch the game. Buying nosebleed seats was about all we could afford, so we would normally smuggle in snacks instead of paying the exhorbitant rates for the food at the arena. Back then I associated hockey games with red licorice and all-dressed chips.
My uncle's workplace has long had season tickets to the local NHL team and I was lucky enough to occasionally get to go to games - either with my family or with a friend. With good lower level seats and increased security measures smuggling in cheap food was no longer an option, so I began to associate hockey games with hot dogs, nachos with liquid cheese sauce, and frozen chocolate malts.
I went to see my university's hockey team in their semi-final game last week with a friend from school. It was a great game, hard fought and very evenly matched. Unfortunately my boys lost in overtime when they had a momentary lapse on defense. As my friend and I left the arena and headed to the train station I asked her if she wanted to grab dinner before going home. She assented and said "well since we've come to the hockey game, now we have to go for Indian!" Of all the cuisines that come to mind in conjunction with the sport of ice hockey, I have to say that Indian would be one of the very last I'd have come up with until recently. Now, well, it makes perfect sense. My favourite Indian restaurant in Tokyo (the curry is good, but the nan is exceptional!) is on the opposite side of the city from me, in an area I don't go to often. In fact the only time I do go through the area is to and from hockey games. That particular restaurant has thus become our favourite spot to celebrate wins and nurse losses.
Ice hockey and spinach curry - a match made in Tokyo!
My uncle's workplace has long had season tickets to the local NHL team and I was lucky enough to occasionally get to go to games - either with my family or with a friend. With good lower level seats and increased security measures smuggling in cheap food was no longer an option, so I began to associate hockey games with hot dogs, nachos with liquid cheese sauce, and frozen chocolate malts.
I went to see my university's hockey team in their semi-final game last week with a friend from school. It was a great game, hard fought and very evenly matched. Unfortunately my boys lost in overtime when they had a momentary lapse on defense. As my friend and I left the arena and headed to the train station I asked her if she wanted to grab dinner before going home. She assented and said "well since we've come to the hockey game, now we have to go for Indian!" Of all the cuisines that come to mind in conjunction with the sport of ice hockey, I have to say that Indian would be one of the very last I'd have come up with until recently. Now, well, it makes perfect sense. My favourite Indian restaurant in Tokyo (the curry is good, but the nan is exceptional!) is on the opposite side of the city from me, in an area I don't go to often. In fact the only time I do go through the area is to and from hockey games. That particular restaurant has thus become our favourite spot to celebrate wins and nurse losses.
Ice hockey and spinach curry - a match made in Tokyo!
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Welcome Tadanobu
Of my year in India one of the best things was the people I met. This included Indian people in the local community, the visitors from around the world who attended the events we ran at Sangam, and, especially, my coworkers. Working with an international team has its challenges - differing work styles and language barriers can cause stress, which is compounded when you also live together and probably spend most of your free time together too! But it can also be incredibly rewarding. We may have different backgrounds and different futures, but for a short period of time we lived and worked together and because of that we share something very special. That is why I was upset not to be able to be there when two of my coworkers each got married this summer. I am, however, really looking forward to going to western Japan sometime soon to meet the newest member of the Sangam family!
Meet Tadanobu.
He was rather late, but he and his mom are both doing well.
He's adorable... I'm smitten!
When I was a baby I was given a pink baby blanket by the friend of my grandmother. It has gotten rather ratty, and been patched a few times, but I still have my baby blanket. The woman who gave it to me became immortalized as "the Blanket Lady." I've now become a blanket lady myself, but this time around I wanted to do more than just buy a soft blue blanket - I wanted to give little Tadanobu a flavour of India, and I wanted to knit it myself.
So I looked through hundreds of patterns, and finally settled on two - for elephant dishcloths!
Multiple that by sixteen, add a frilly border, and voila! A baby blanket!
But I'm kinda partial to this picture... (I sent little Tadanobu some Raffi for him to enjoy when he gets a bit bigger)
Meet Tadanobu.
He was rather late, but he and his mom are both doing well.
He's adorable... I'm smitten!
When I was a baby I was given a pink baby blanket by the friend of my grandmother. It has gotten rather ratty, and been patched a few times, but I still have my baby blanket. The woman who gave it to me became immortalized as "the Blanket Lady." I've now become a blanket lady myself, but this time around I wanted to do more than just buy a soft blue blanket - I wanted to give little Tadanobu a flavour of India, and I wanted to knit it myself.
So I looked through hundreds of patterns, and finally settled on two - for elephant dishcloths!
Multiple that by sixteen, add a frilly border, and voila! A baby blanket!
But I'm kinda partial to this picture... (I sent little Tadanobu some Raffi for him to enjoy when he gets a bit bigger)
Saturday, 17 May 2008
Mummy Jhaveri
At the end of March I got sad email telling me of the passing of a wonderful woman that everybody I knew simply called "Mummy."
Many years earlier the Jhaveri family had adopted Sangam (the centre in India where I volunteered/lived), inviting staff, volunteers and many event participants into their homes. A normal visit would include a long conversation over cups of hot chai, followed by a delicious home-cooked dinner (after which it was time to leave, as it was Mummy's bedtime!)
I can't imagine how many strangers from around the world this incredible family welcomed into their home, but each and every one left feeling like they had made lifelong friends. The entire family had a way of making you feel at home in their home.
This evening when I came home from work I found a letter from India in my mailbox, with a printed page bearing a poem titled "A Celebration of Mummy." I'm a little late, but in honour of Mother's Day and a wonderful woman, I wanted to share a section of the poem:
Good-bye Mummy Jhaveri, and thank you.
Many years earlier the Jhaveri family had adopted Sangam (the centre in India where I volunteered/lived), inviting staff, volunteers and many event participants into their homes. A normal visit would include a long conversation over cups of hot chai, followed by a delicious home-cooked dinner (after which it was time to leave, as it was Mummy's bedtime!)
I can't imagine how many strangers from around the world this incredible family welcomed into their home, but each and every one left feeling like they had made lifelong friends. The entire family had a way of making you feel at home in their home.
This evening when I came home from work I found a letter from India in my mailbox, with a printed page bearing a poem titled "A Celebration of Mummy." I'm a little late, but in honour of Mother's Day and a wonderful woman, I wanted to share a section of the poem:
We remember you...
Your love
Care
Patience
Sensitivity
Your warm smile and
Those sparkling eyes
The fun and laughter you shared
The peace as you endured
And your internal strength
...
We respect you...
Your generosity
Kindness
Compassion
Open heart and open door
Unassuming hospitality
Welcoming all into your home
Serving those from distant lands
And close to home
Indian mother to us all
Good-bye Mummy Jhaveri, and thank you.
Thursday, 4 October 2007
India in Japan
Last week a friend forwarded to me photographs of the son of a friend of hers in India. When we left India the announcement that a baby was expected had only just made so I was expecting photographs of some chubby little thing in diapers. The little boy in the pictures, however, looked much older than that and I was forced to remind myself that we were in India 3 years ago!
On the weekend I joined two other friends from my time in India and a few of their friends at the annual Indian festival in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park. There were food stalls that smelt a whole lot better than India but unfortunately the curies, biriyani, lassis and chai on sale just didn't quite measure up (the mango juice, however, was divine!). There was a stage with musical presentations from classical to modern - the crowd (us included) enthusiastically dancing along with the Bollywood dancers. And there were stalls selling dry goods, clothing, jewelery, embroidered bags, bedcovers... The alleyways in between the stalls were much too wide and the cool and rainy weather didn't quite fit, but it still felt a whole lot like Laxmi Road!
On the weekend I joined two other friends from my time in India and a few of their friends at the annual Indian festival in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park. There were food stalls that smelt a whole lot better than India but unfortunately the curies, biriyani, lassis and chai on sale just didn't quite measure up (the mango juice, however, was divine!). There was a stage with musical presentations from classical to modern - the crowd (us included) enthusiastically dancing along with the Bollywood dancers. And there were stalls selling dry goods, clothing, jewelery, embroidered bags, bedcovers... The alleyways in between the stalls were much too wide and the cool and rainy weather didn't quite fit, but it still felt a whole lot like Laxmi Road!
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