Spicy Bread Upma with Kadak Adrak Elaichi Chai was today evening’s snack. The inspiration behind making the chai and upma was the Khalbatta or Stone Mortar which my friend gifted me. I just somehow wanted to use it. I asked my friends of Epicurean Delights group about various ideas to use it. One of the suggestions was to use it to crush the ginger and cardamom for adrak elaichi tea 🙂

With this amazing tea, I definitely needed a savory snack and nothing beats it than the bread upma 🙂

So here are the recipes 🙂

Ginger-Cardamom Tea / Adrak-Elaichi Chai

Ingredients                                                                                  

Ginger – 1 small piece peeled and washed thoroughly

Cardamom – 2 whole

Milk – 1 cup

Water – 1 cup

Sugar – 2 tsp

Tea leaves – 2 tsp, mine is Taj Mahal

Method

Crush together ginger and cardamom pods with a mortar and pestle.

In a saucepan add the crushed ginger-cardamom and water.Let it come to a boil.Add sugar to taste.

When it comes to a rolling boil add tea leaves.Simmer and add milk.

Let it simmer for 1 minute.Strain and serve.

Adapted from Divya’s Cook Book.com

Bread Upma Recipe

Ingredients

•White bread slices preferably a day old               6-8 slices

•Oil        4 tablespoons

•Asafoetida       a pinch

•Cumin seeds   1/2 teaspoon

•Mustard seeds               1/4 teaspoon

•Onion ,chopped             1 medium                                                                 

•Potato,boiled and diced             1 medium

•Turmeric powder          1/4 teaspoon

•Red chilli powder           1/2 teaspoon

•Lemon juice     1 teaspoon

•Green chillies,chopped               2

•Fresh coriander leaves,chopped            2 tablespoon

Method

Break the bread slices into smaller pieces with or without the crust. Heat oil in a kadai. Add a pinch of asafoetida.

Add cumin seeds and mustard seeds.

When the cumin seeds change colour and mustard seeds crackle, add onion and sauté. When the onion turns translucent, add turmeric powder and bread pieces.

Mix and add red chilli powder and toss to mix well. Sprinkle some water and cook for two minutes. Add lemon juice, green chillies and coriander leaves. Toss and serve hot.

Adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor.com

Some fun facts about tea from No Time Like Tea Time

Legend has it that in 2737 BC, Shen Nung, the second emperor of China, discovered tea when leaves blew into his pot of boiling water. Who knows? He might have took a taste and found it delightful?

The east, specifically China, is the birth place of tea.

On an estimate, there are about 1,500 kinds of tea and there could be more. So you just don’t say “tea”. You have to be specific which of those 1,500 kinds you are referring to.

Coming next to water, tea is the second most consumed drink in the whole wide world.

Tea tasting is no easy job you have to have a keen eye for tea leaves, a sharp taste for brewed teas, a sense of touch for the tea leaves and a keen smell to determine whether the aroma of brewed tea is good or not.

Camellia sinensis is the single plant where all varieties of tea came from.

Black tea in the United States is called ‘red tea’ in China.

Teas don’t taste the same. Their taste would depend largely on the temperature and taste of water and the time they took to brew. That’s why the Chinese recommend fresh water from lakes and rivers, they said it’s the best but I’m not pretty sure there’s much cleaner water around, eh?

During the mid-1700s, tea became drink of Great Britain; the nation’s favorite topping over gin.

If you don’t want to feel mosquito bites on your skin, dampen tea leaves to harness their scent and voila! You have a natural mosquito repellent at your home.

Tea is not just healthy. It’ll help you heal cuts, remove odors (even body odors for that matter), can be a great fertilizers, your floor cleaner and perfect for meat marinade.

The national drink of Afghanistan and Iran is tea.

British people drink about 165 millions cups of tea a day. That amounts to a staggering 62 billion cups annually.

Ireland is the largest nation of tea drinkers. Britain comes second.

The United States consumes 1.42 million pounds of tea every day. That sure is a lot!

Lipton Tea is the most popular and best-selling brand of tea in the world and its factory in Jebel Ali, Dubai manufactures at least 5 billion tea bags for sale in a year.

Worldwide, 3 million tons of tea is produced every year.

Tea drinkers are more heavily concentrated on the South and Northeast part of the United States.

Although there are 1,500 kinds of tea, they are only derived from six major varieties: white, yellow, oolong, green, black and post-fermented tea leaves.

The most expensive tea meal to date can be found in the Ritz Carlton of Hong Kong that goes with a hefty tag price of $8,888 per pair.

Tea bags and iced tea are both invented in the United States in 1904.

A pound of loose tea leaves can make more than 200 cups of tea.

The most popular type of tea is black tea. It makes up about 75% of the world’s tea use.

Tea and herbal teas are different. Teas are usually from the camellia sinensis plant while herbal teas are an infusion of herbs.

Long before the 19th century, solid blocks of tea were used as a currency in Siberia.

While the East has long since used tea for thousands of years, it was only introduced to the West about 400 years ago, about 4000 years behind the East tea drinkers.