Cooking tips, tricks, and advice from professional kitchens
Posts tagged fennel seed
How to Make Chai Tea
Feb 28th
Making Chai Tea
Tired of that cup of Folgers every morning? Want a little change from Starbucks? Well, next time you want a little pick-me-up, try brewing a cup (or 4, in our recipe) of chai tea.
What is Chai Tea?
For those unfamiliar with chai, it is black tea infused with aromatic spices, finished with milk and sugar. Virtually any blend of ’sweet’ and ‘warming’ spices are a good match for chai tea. Sweet spices are those that pair well, or are enhanced by sweetness: Nutmeg, allspice, vanilla, fennel seed, star anise, cassia and cinnamon to name a few. Warming spices include peppercorns and ginger, as well as cinnamon.
There are brands of sweetened chai syrup on the market, as well as prepackaged chai flavoured teabags, but they can’t compete with the intoxicating aroma and deep flavours of real chai tea. Making the real thing is about as difficult as boiling a pot of water – you just need a few things on hand.
As with many Indian dishes, there are limitless regional differences with chai tea. Some recipes omit ginger or cloves, some add other spices, and I’ve even heard of chilies being added. Preparation methods differ as well, so remember, there is no truly ‘right way’ to make chai tea.
How do I make Chai Tea?
Ingredients for 1 Litre of Chai Tea
3 Tbsp Black tea – Use a good quality black tea. Something you would drink on its own. If you don’t have any on hand, 4 or 5 Tetley tea bags will do. I normally drink Red Rose tea, but for some reason Tetley seems to make nicer, less tannic masala chai.
Spices -
- 3 inches cinnamon stick
- 10 green cardamom pods
- 1/2 inch ginger, sliced thin
- 10 whole cloves
- 10 black peppercorns
- Place 2 1/2 cups of water, and all of the spices in a pot, and bring to a boil.
- Once boiled, cover your pot, and turn to low heat, or turn it off. Let the spices steep for 10 minutes.
- Add 1 1/2 cups milk, 2-4 Tbsp sugar, brown sugar, or honey and bring back to a boil.
- Once boiled, turn heat to low.
- Add tea leaves and steep on low heat for 10-15 minutes.
- Strain and serve.
Chai Tea - Ready to Strain
Some additional spices you may want to try adding to your chai:
- Star anise
- Dried orange peel
- Vanilla bean (or just the saved pods, after you scrape the seeds)
- Nutmeg
Butternut squash and zucchini curry with fresh spices
Jan 11th
This dish may not be traditional, but I tried to build it using some traditional Indian cooking techniques. Now, when I say ‘Indian cooking’, I realize that it is a huge country, with countless regional culinary variations. This dish is probably closest to west Indian, Gujurat or Rajastani food – hot, vegetarian, flavorful, and mildly sweet.
There is no curry powder used here, only fresh ground or whole spices. This gives the cook the ability to adjust the dish as needed. Its hard to screw up a curry dish, since you can always correct it as you go. The only golden rule is to never burn your spices. Keep watching your heat.
| Ingredients: |
| 2 tbsp vegetable oil |
| 3 red chilies |
| 4 green cardamom |
| 3 inches cinnamon stick |
| 1 1/2 tbsp cumin seed |
| 2 tsp fennel seed |
| 1 white onion, diced |
| 2 tsp ground ginger |
| 4 cloves minced garlic |
| 1 tbsp ground coriander |
| 1 tsp turmeric |
| 1 cup of diced tomatoes or halved grape tomatoes |
| 1 cup zucchini |
| 1 cup cream or omit for a lower fat version |
| 1 cup butternut squash diced |
| sprinkle of dried fenugreek leaves |
| 1 tbsp yogurt |
| brown sugar to taste |
| Fresh coriander for garnish |
Before proceeding, heat up a pot of salted water. Peel and dice the butternut squash and blanch it until soft, probably 4 minutes if diced into 1 inch cubes, less time for smaller cuts.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan over medium heat until it begins to shimmer.
- Break off the stem of your red chilies and crack them in half. This way they wont explode and splatter you with oil. Sautee them until the skin begins to crackle.
- Add cardamom pods and cinnamon stick. Let toast in the pan for about 60 seconds.
- Add the cumin seed and toast it until you can smell the toasty lemony scent.
- Add fennel seed and toast.
- Add onion and cook until translucent.
- Add garlic and ginger, saute briefly.
- Add coriander, turmeric
- Toss in the tomatoes and briefly cook out
- Add zucchini and cook briefly, then add cream and cook over medium heat until thickened.
- Add your blanched and drained butternut squash.
- Sweeten with brown sugar, and finish with yogurt if you wish.
- Garnish with fresh coriander leaves.
Now, I know that seems like a long recipe, but once you do it once, it really becomes the same old flow over and over. The summary – toast and saute your spices, add your aromatics [onions, ginger, garlic], build sauce with tomatoes/cream/whatever, add veg, finish and plate. The plating would have been nicer, but I had to clean up a major spill in the kitchen while cooking.
Building the sauce, tomatoes added
Almost done, cook the zucchini
Add the butternut squash to reheat it
Finished and plated
Related Blogs
Moroccan inspired roast boneless lamb shoulder marinated in chermoula
Jul 14th
I’m not the biggest fan of lamb in general, but I think my favourite cut of any meat has to be lamb shoulder. It is a rather tough cut of meat with a lot of connective tissue, but can be boned out and rolled into a roast if you carve around or remove some of the tendons beforehand. Also, if you get quality young Australian or New Zealand lamb, you won’t have to worry about that gamey scent that lamb usually has.
This recipe is inspired by something that I did at work a few days ago, Moroccan spiced roasted boneless lamb shoulder.
From the top: sambal oelek, chopped coriander stalks, ginger, garlic, onion
The spices come in the form of chermoula [also spelled shermoola, and charmoula]. Chermoula is a spice paste used in north African cooking [Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia), and while recipes vary considerably, some common ingredients are: garlic, ginger, onion, coriander leaves and stems, chilies, lemon juice and zest, and oil.
From the top: paprika, cumin, Chinese 5 spice, coriander seed, turmeric
Spices used may include fennel seed, coriander seed, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, turmeric.
Chermoula recipe:
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/2 small onion, red, white, yellow, whatever you like.
- 1 tbsp sambal oelek [or ground red chilies, sambal was a shortcut]
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tbsp ginger or 1 inch or so fresh ginger chopped
- 2 tsp coriander seed, crushed whole or ground
- 4 tbsp coriander (cilantro) leaves and stems.
- 1 tsp turmeric (optional).
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp fennel seed
- 1/2 to 1 tsp cinnamon depending on taste
- Oil
- Salt to taste
Finished chermoula, ground into a paste with a morter and pestle. Feel free to use a food processor.
Yeah, I know that is a lot of spices and ingredients, and if you don’t have them all on hand this can be an expensive thing to make. Feel free to omit anything listed, and I recommend you eyeball the quantities as well because everyone’s spices have different potencies. Mix your chermoula and let it sit for a few minutes, then taste it. Adjust the flavour if you need to, after all, eating is a very individual thing.
I couldn’t be bothered to find my fennel seed today, so I threw in 1 tsp of Chinese 5 spice powder. Five spice contains ginger, cinnamon, star anise, fennel seed, and Sichuan peppercorns [yours may have different ingredients, however]. Cinnamon, ginger and fennel seed are all ingredients in todays recipe, and the cloves go nicely as well, so if you have 5 spice, feel free to experiment and use it. I should also mention that I only had a bundle of coriander stalks left over, without any leaves. The stems pack even more flavour than the leaves do, so you may want to hold onto them next time you grow or buy some cilantro.
Boneless lamb shoulder, flattened and ready to be coated
If you bought vacuum packed lamb, open the cryovac bag and rinse the lamb under the tap, then let it sit to let the smell dissipate. When things sit in cryovac bags they tend to start to stink, even when the meat is perfectly fresh. The smell will go away in a couple minutes, and the meat will return to its natural vibrant red colour.
Boneless lamb shoulder with the inside coated in chermoula
Preheat the oven to 325F/160C. Coat your lamb shoulder inside with some of the chermoula.
Rolled, tied, and coated lamb shoulder
Then roll it up and tie with butchers knots. Coat the outside with the remaining chermoula and let it sit as the oven heats up. You can also coat and roll the lamb the night before to let the flavours infuse.
Roast the lamb at 325F for about an hour, or more, or less. Now is the time to break out that meat thermometer, because the cooking time depends on the thickness of the meat, and every roast is going to have a different cooking time. Cook the roast until the internal temperature reaches 140F, or 60C. This will be rare. Then remove it from the oven, and tent with foil and let it rest for 10-15 minutes. The carryover cooking should give you a medium-rare roast. If you prefer your lamb medium to well, remove it at 150F or 65C and let rest. If you like your lamb charcoal and dry, cook it well done to 170F or 70C. If you cook it well done, it’ll likely be dry and inedible.
Roasted lamb shoulder after resting
Let the lamb rest for 10-15 minutes, remove the ties, then slice. You may need to cut cleverly if you’ve left some thick tendons in there.
Roasted Moroccan inspired lamb shoulder cooked medium and sliced
This lamb goes nicely with minted yogurt, a rice pilaf, and some zucchini and carrots.
Chinese Five Spice
Mar 24th
Five spice is Chinese and Vietnamese spice blend containing somewhere between 5 and 7 spices. It is commonly used on roast or braised meats with braised pork belly, beef brisket, or roast duck being a few classics. There are many recipes for this blend, but common ingredients are Sichuan pepercorns, cloves, cinnamon, anise seed, star anise, and ground ginger.
Five spice may be found in Chinese or Southeast Asian markets, but it is easy to make your own if you have a well stocked spice cupboard.
The five spice recipe I’ve been carting around for some time is:
- 30ml Sichuan peppercorns [black peppercorns may be substitued, but you'll lose the lemony flavour of the Sichuan pepper]
- 10ml fennel seed
- 10ml ground ginger
- 3 star anise pods
- 6 whole cloves
- 6 inches of cinnamon stick broken up
Yes, I know it has six spices.
