You may have noticed a theme with the Journal posts, maybe not. I tend to alternate a health & wellbeing post with a recipe post. And I usually try to relate the recipe to the health post. If appropriate. As I was thinking of possible recipes to follow "Busy is the New Black" I thought why would I do a recipe that involves spending more than five minutes in the kitchen when I've just been talking about being quiet, sitting in your own thoughts and just relaxing! And I cannot possibly think of anything more appropriate than a nourishing and delicious drink to encourage those activities.
And better yet, it's delicious hot to warm you up in winter or to have cold in summer.
As I write this, I am sipping away on this very drink, sitting at my computer with a hot water bottle on my lap. The thoughts of an iced version is sending chills through me, I am looking forward to enjoying this come summer time.
Now I'm using the term chai very loosely here. There are chai spices in this drink. Black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg. But there's no tea in it. And I have just thrown the spices together rather than using a pre mix. That's only because I haven't come across a chai mix that I love, I tend to find them all too sweet. But if you have your own favourite chai, by all means, use it.
Wattleseed is a favourite of mine and you may have made some of my other recipes featuring it, such as the Celebration Tart.
It has been used by the Aboriginal people for hundreds of years as a low GI source of protein and fibre. The seeds would be ground into a flour and made into a bread, cooked in the fire coals. The roasted seeds have a delicious coffee, chocolate, hazelnut flavour that works perfectly in cakes and desserts. You can purchase wattleseed at your local bulk store, or a brand I do like is Natif. Owner Julie, a naturopath and nutritionist, travels Australia educating people on our native foods. She works closely with the indigenous community and helps them to grow and sell their foods.
You don't need anything fancy to make this, just a saucepan and a little stick blender.
If you don't want to try wattleseed, that's perfectly fine. You can omit it from the recipe although I do recommend you try it. I don't like using ingredients that are rare and you'll never use again, but I will tell you that wattleseed is insanely good stirred through vanilla ice-cream! And of course there's that beautiful chocolate tart. Nudge nudge. You can also leave out all of the other spices but they do play a delicious role in this drink. The ingredients are a guideline, nothing to get uptight over. The whole idea behind this drink is for you to make something quick and delicious, so you can stop being busy for a couple of minutes and sit down to contemplate your navel.
Ingredients:
1 cup of your favourite milk (I use long life coconut, but any milk is fine)
1 heaped tsp cacao powder
1 heaped tsp wattleseed
1 splash of maple syrup (or your choice of sweetener. It will make the spices sing)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom
Fresh ground black pepper
Fresh grated ginger (if you have any, otherwise use powdered)
Pinch of nutmeg
Method:
Add all ingredients to a small saucepan and heat gently
When it's warm enough, blitz with the stick blender to create a froth
Pour into your favourite mug and take to the couch to sit quietly, hands wrapped around your mug and just be still and quiet until the mug is empty
For an iced version, add all ingredients to a blender with ice. Blend until smooth. Pour into a tall glass and this time you may like to sit outside, toes wiggling in the grass
Enjoy!
Eating well is a form of self respect
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