Saturday, February 27, 2010

Chai Wallah of a Different Colour

----------------
Now playing: A.R. Rahman Feat. Sukhwinder Singh, Tanvi Shah & Mahalakshmi Iyer - Jai Ho
via FoxyTunes

Chai wallah means tea server....My chai is served in a different way, as Chai Creme Brulee.

The custard:

8 egg yolks
2 cups cream
1/3 cup sugar
Chai ingredients- cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaf, peppercorn, Vanilla, Cloves, Almond, Nutmeg, Anise seed, All Spice, black tea

Preheat oven to 300 deg F. Heat the cream without boiling, or curdling with the chai ingredients. Let the mixture steep. Have your egg yolks and sugar blended in a bowl (don't leave this too long, sugar will cook the eggs.) Strain the cream and temper into the eggs. Pour into ramekins that are in a shallow pan. Kill the foam on the top with a blow torch. Move the pan carefully to a rack in the oven. Pull one corner of the pan out so you can pour hot water from a pitcher to almost the top level of the ramekins. Cover the top of the pan with a cookie sheet, setback into the oven. Bake for approx. 40-50 minutes. The edges will be firm but the centre will still jiggle. Cool in the hot bath. Then remove them from the bath and cover in the refrigerator. Let them set at least 4 hours, but preferably over night.



To make the topping I use a powdered sugar shaker. Shake a layer of powdered sugar and heat it with a blow torch. Repeat several times until there is a nice, crunchy brulee topping.



Creme Brulee is nice to serve with a sweet biscuit to dunk into the custard.

2 comments:

  1. I know I say this on all of your posts, but this does look delicious.
    I love Chai, so I am going to have to try this. :o)

    The elephant brought a sudden tear to my eye.
    My late mom collect elephants for most of her life. She had a big bookshelf filled with them. When we went on class trips during our school years, we brought her back an elephant each from trip.
    When she found out the her breast cancer had spread, the place where she went for treatments was undergoing a remodeling and she donated most of her collection to be displayed at the offices.
    They were happy to get them and my mother is remembered by her donation...an elephant never forgets. :o)
    I have a few elephants in my home, that she left me. I tell my grandchildren the story of how she got a couple hundred elephants.
    Thanks, Marcy for the reminder. :o)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I hope it was a happy tear, Kathy. That is a lovely story.

    I used an elephant figurine we received from an Indian friend....I made the spice elephant looking at that as a model and came up with my theme.

    ReplyDelete