Yaldā

12/21/15

Persian Celebration of Light. 

 Monday was shabeh yalda. On  the longest day of the year Persians celebrate the triumph of light over darkness and its called yalda. The traditions include staying up all night eating (pomegranate is a must), drinking tea and reading poetry. Many love to read the poetry of the famous poet Hafez. Often people sit outside on a corsi which is like a heated bench. 

An important part of yalda is tea, of course! Here's the tea I had last night with some interesting sweet. The little cubes are called ahb-nabat or rock candy. They are sweets you drink with tea often made of sugar, hard at first but dissolve as you drink your tea. The ones I had last night had  bits of pistachio in them...so good! I don't think you can find the pistachio ones online but here are the ones with saffron. 

Support Your Local Tea Shop - Na Tra Tea's

I have lived in Takoma Park since I was 8 years old. It's a pretty small town so you get to know all the businesses. A month or two ago I was driving down a street I frequent and saw a a new tea shop, only a few minutes walk from my apartment. Na Tra Tea's. I visited one other time as the shop owner made her shop a UPS sure post pickup spot to get more traffic. I walked in to get a package and thought to myself...this is going to be my new spot.  

How cute!

This was one of the best experiences I've ever had. Today I took a trip to Na Tra's. It was unusually winter like today so I bundled up tight and started my walk. The shop is only about a 5 minute walk from my house but it felt a little longer as the wind whipped my face. By the time I got there, I was ready for tea! 

My best friend from college Ashley recently asked me if I've tried rooibos tea,  I had not. Today when I walked into the shop and was overwhelmed! What to choose! I wanted to be adventurous and my eyes fell on "Red Hot Chai." A Rooibos blend of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, chai spices and a kiss of vanilla.

Aster Tefera is the owner and she is a delight! She was so welcoming and warm.  Although I ordered the red hot chai she offered me a sample of the house tea which had a very "middle eastern" taste.  Cardamom and cinnamon, I think I'll have that next time. 

We chatted about Iran and Ethiopia (where she is from) while she prepared my tea, it was a wonderful, genuine conversation. Once my tea was ready I sat down and it was delicious! If you haven't had rooibos you need to try it! More importantly, this small tea shop needs your support. Head on down to Takoma Park and say hello to Aster! Their tea will cheer you up :) 

Green Tea Tasting

Green Tea. 

So far,  I've mostly talked about black tea but tonight I had a delicious glass of green. My aunt sent me this loose leaf green, it's straight from China! I'll have to ask her where she ordered it from because there is no English on the packaging to give me a hint.

Green and black tea are very similar in taste and in benefit. Both black and green tea have an intoxicating smell, full body with a lingering taste on your tongue. 

This green tea was exceptional. I have had other green teas that didn't have as much flavor. Have you never had green tea? Here are some great health benefits:

1) Better digestion

2) Improves your skin

3) May have fat burning properties

4) Improves brain function

Don't mind me eating a cookie before dinner. 

GF Chocolate Crinkles

Let me start of by saying that I am fortunate enough to not have a dietary restriction such as gluten intolerance but some do! I went to a Christmas party on Saturday and the host cannot have gluten so I decided to look up a recipe for a gluten free holiday cookie. 

Apparently Betty Crocker has a whole line of gluten free products and recipes. Before you judge, take a look at these bad boys...

Check out the recipe: 

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used apple sauce)
• 4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, melted, cooled
• 2 cups granulated sugar (I used packed dark brown sugar)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups Bisquick™ Gluten Free mix
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Normally I like to bake completely from scratch and am against boxed mixes but because this was an experiment I followed the recipe. I got the Bisquick Gluten Free mix from target, it was a bit pricey although there is a promo code now where if you spend $10 you get $3 off! 

You start off by mixing the apple sauce, sugar, vanilla and melted baking chocolate together. Then mix in the eggs one at a time making sure it is evenly distributed. Pour in the mix and make sure you scrape the bottom so there isn't any mix left. The recipe says to refrigerate for at least 3 hours, I only had an hour and it was fine. I would suggest longer because it will make the powdered sugar  step easier. 

Next take a teaspoon or tablespoon and roll little balls dunking them in powdered sugar. I poured powdered sugar in a bowl and this made it easy to cover it completely. Place on a baking dish that is oiled in some way or on parchment paper. Bake 10-12 minutes. This time will depend on how big you made the cookies.  

Let these cool before you try them! I would say that these are good however they are a bit cakey and I know that's not everyone's cup of tea. Enjoy!

Almond & Walnut Cookies

As some of you may have guessed my obsession with tea comes from a heritage that loves tea, I'm Persian! Tea is something that I grew up enjoying and the ways in which I enjoy it are how I was taught, everything from brewing to serving the tea. Over the years I observed that one important part of tea is the pairing. 

Many people drink it with sugar or honey but often it is enjoyed with sweets, hence the sweets part of the blog. Sometimes the sweets aren't necessarily traditional desserts but things like green raisins. Tonight however I went the sweet route with almond & walnut cookies. These cookies, especially when fresh from the bakery are so moist and tender. They are the perfect partner for your tea. Each one truly tastes of it's respective nut. In Farsi they are called ger-doo-ee and bah-doo-mee literally meaning of walnuts or of almonds. 

White ones are almond and the brown ones are walnut 

Tea is always a jolly time when there are sweets involved! Oh yea, only 18 more days until Christmas! 

Chocolate Tea

Chocolate & Tea, two of my favorite things.

My sister recently took a trip to Guatemala and brought me back a specialty tea from the country, CHOCOLATE tea! As soon as I opened the package an aroma of sweet milk chocolate filled my nostrils. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays and this kind of smell gets me into the holiday spirit. 

Look how beautiful it is. 

I put these pieces right in my teapot and brewed it like regular tea. I let it brew a little longer because the leaves are a bit thicker than normal tea leaves. 

I think I made my first batch a little light because I was expecting a more chocolate rich color once I poured my glass. The color was more or less like tea and smelled almost exactly like hot chocolate!

The taste was definitely not an obvious chocolate taste but had a rich, earthy taste that most teas don't have. I didn't sweeten it because it had a bold flavor but I could imagine a bit of honey in here would be divine!

Fear not, if you are intrigued and want to try it you don't have to travel to Guatemala! I found the chocolate tea online! 

Enjoy my tea lovers! 

Baby it's cold outside.

Countdown to my favorite holiday.

Don't get me wrong, thanksgiving is a wonderful time. Who doesn't love cooking all day then gorging all  night? But now that it has passed I can unashamedly countdown to Christmas. I love Christmas because it's a time to give those who you love and those who are in need some cheer. I am a believer of doing this all year round but it's just a bit more special around this time of year. I spent the weekend buying some decorations for my apartment and of course brewing a warm glass of tea. 

In the next few weeks I have some different teas that I don't usually drink. These teas are what I would describe as "Christmasy." Winter is cold, but nothing a hot glass of tea can't fix so tune in with your tea.

I will also be pairing my tea with some family favorite desserts!

For all my fellow Christmas lovers, here is my favorite countdown clock

Stay warm and have a glass of tea!

Persian Kachi !

Persian Sweets.

Growing up in a Persian family exposes you to some interesting cuisine and sweets. I personally love it all but some things, especially sweets can have an acquired taste. One ingredient used often in dessert is rose water. From my experience, many of my friends who had zero exposure to this Persian baking essential were not used to its strong flavor and fragrance. 

Kachi, or sometimes called halva is one simple sweet that usually carries a strong smell of rose water which I personally love! Below is some kachi my mom made for my sister and I. It is so sweet that honey or sugar is not even necessary in your tea. The kachi pairs perfectly with a warm tea on a blistery cold day! Something about the saffron and cardamom blends perfectly with the flavor of the black tea. 

I can't take credit for this sweet because my wonderful mother made it but here is the Kachi recipe she used. Some of the ingredients you may not have lying around but it is simple to make and delicious to pair with your tea!

One Bowl Chocolate Cake

One Bowl.

Sometimes you read those recipes that have a ton of ingredients and complicated steps like put these two ingredients together then softly let this other ingredient penetrate the other two etc. I have a solution for you. ONE BOWL chocolate cake. It is simple and easy. You throw all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix them together, the outcome is delicious. 

I found the one bowl chocolate cake recipe here and have made a few adjustments of my own.

• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 2/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup hot coffee
• pinch of salt

The key differences between my recipe and the original are the apple sauce, brown sugar and coffee. The original recipe asks for white sugar, I think brown sugar tastes way better and gives it a richer color. I used apple sauce instead of oil,you can't taste the difference. Apple sauce is healthier and I think it makes the cake moister! Finally, instead of a cup of boiling water I used coffee because it makes the cake  more flavorful. The one thing about this recipe is I would suggest adding the coffee last. I also added a little bit of raw coconut! Bake these on 350 for about 20- 30 minutes. If you do cupcakes they will be ready much quicker.

I made one 9 inch round cake pan and 12 muffin sized cupcakes with this recipe!

Enjoy :) 

Leaves are in the air!

Tea Leaves & Tree Leaves

Today I awoke to what I'm calling bone chilling weather... 40 degrees! I wasn't ready for it! I went over to the kitchen and fired up the pot of water so that I can brew my anti cold, tea. As I went out I saw all these beautiful leaves blowing in the wind and I decided to lay them down beside some leaves from a different family. 

Growing up with Iranian parents means that you're surrounded by tea. I've been drinking tea since childhood! To me it has become a magical substance that helps many ailments. Here is a list of things that often are cured or helped greatly by drinking tea.

1. Having a chill: Tea is a quick way to warm you up!
2. Upset stomach: I always drink tea when my stomach isn't right, I think it does a good job of settling it
3. Stress: Depending on how caffeine affects you this may or may not work. When I'm stressed, I brew a glass of tea and the way it warms my body up truly relaxes me and rids me of my stress
4. Sadness: This one is similar to stress, the warmth of your body from the tea causes a sense of joy 
5. Pink eye (mild case): As a child whenever we had pink eye or some eye iritations we would dip a cloth into the tea and dab it on our eyes. This sounds crazy but it always worked! Perhaps the herbs in the tea do the trick. 

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor these are just my observations

Breakfast!

I really wanted to share with you what I paired my tea with this morning. Egg cups and raspberries were delicious ! I use a muffin for the egg cups and cook at 350 degrees for about 13-15 minutes. The amount of time you cook them really depends on how loose you like the yolk, once the white have cooked you can take them out anytime. 

I used turkey bacon, baby kale & spinach, salt, pepper and garlic powder to accompany the eggs. First I cooked the turkey bacon a little, cut it up into small pieces and distributed it in the muffin tin (which I put a little olive oil in). Next, crack an egg in each mold of the muffin tin. Add all the spices and top with finely chopped spinach and kale! 

Simple, quick and healthy breakfast to go with your tea!