One of the most frustrating things about making iced chai is that I usually make it at night. Which is fine, except it takes extreme self-restraint not to consume the hot, aromatic chai and instead put it in the depths of the fridge to chill overnight.
So the other night after I made a pot of hot chai I splashed a few teaspoons on a couple scoops of Breyer's Natural Vanilla that I was having at the time. Several welcome results: hot chai melted the ice cream just a little in a fantastic blend of temperature and texture; creaminess of the ice cream enhanced the richness of the chai; and vanilla in the ice cream complemented the chai flavor extraordinarily. In another word: awesome.
I think there are several routes to go from here:
- Try a variety of ice cream flavors (chocolate, coffee, mint, ... suggestions?) with chai splashed on top
- Use vanilla in chai masala
- Find a way to make chai more 'syrup-y' for an ice cream syrup/glaze
- Try variations of chai ice cream ("chai float" suggestions for a better name?, chai on top of ice cream, incorporate chai flavor into homemade ice cream etc.)
2 comments:
mmmmm I want ice cream. Good thing I have some in the freezer.
I think the idea of a chai masala syrup is a good one. Here is a cinnamon syrup recipe You could use chai masala in some proportion to the sugar and make it into a syrup.
I also like the idea of a chai ice cream float. That sounds delicious! I don't like the idea of vanilla in chai, though I know American coffee shops do do that.
I think the chai syrup is a masked answer for the iced chai conundrum. I am not the chai aficionado that you are, but my experience with coffee might lend a hand.
I always detested iced coffee for as you with the chai: cold = good, watery = worse. Then I visited Annita's family in cypress, and as it happens they suffer 451 degree weather as well. And they like coffee.
So, you may say, they must pour hot coffee over cold ice to get a desirable caffeine delivery mechanism. Wrong. It turns out they use instant coffee and frappe it with cold water and add ice. Voila, cold and non diluted.
The key is, then, to find a proxy for instant coffee in the world of chai. The solution? perhaps Chai syrup.
Perhaps try reducing a water masala mixture to get a concentrated solution you could use when brewing. Then you might add this mixture to warm evaporated or condensed milk or simple syrup to achieve many interesting outcomes. Also frappe-ing may solve the problem of oil coming out of solution (think mayonaisse and emulsion) and add interesting textural possibilities
Posting this makes me want chai...
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