I don’t drink tea. I should say that up front. Can’t stand the stuff. But studying the Schwartz flavour forecast to prepare this post and flavouring stuff with tea was featured so here we are.
I grew up being familiar with Schwartz, my mother had aprons and tea towels with their branding on. As you can see from my double-layered spice box, I am not especially loyal to one particular range.
With the wooden spice rack screwed to the wall largely a thing of the past, it’s important to have labels on lids. So this was a great opportunity to refresh my spice collection. The jars now look shiny and bright.
Depending on what it is, I generally choose a mix of types of herbs and spices and whereas ground is the best way for some ingredients, it’s not the only way to store your flavour fix. My personal collection breaks down something like this:
Dried herbs in jars:
More mint, oregano.
Dried ground spices in jars:
Ginger (for baking only), cloves, fenugreek, asafoetida, paprika, cardamom (I hate the pods but like it ground).
Dried whole spices in jars:
Cumin seeds, whole coriander, mustard seeds, cinnamon sticks, nigella seeds.
Ground in big bags from ethnic store:
More cumin, coriander, garam masala – because I get through these so fast, I can justify buying in bulk at a lower price without worrying about waste.
Freshly bought herbs:
Basil, coriander, parsley (I keep pots going for ages when I remember to water them).
Herbs freshly grown in garden:
Mint, sage, chives, thyme, rosemary. (although I’m a bad gardener and my home grown herbs quickly “bolt”)
Pickled or jarred:
Chopped ginger from Waitrose special ingredients’ range (because I hate grating fresh ginger and both this and the jars of lazy ginger go mouldy at frightening speed)
Jalapeno peppers, chilli pastes.
Tubed:
Garlic. Unless I need slivers or whole cloves, I buy squeezy tubes of lazy style garlic.
Frozen:
Kaffir lime leaves. They stay fresher like this. I buy them in a Thai supermarket in Shepherds Bush.
So the business of choosing and storing herbs and spices is rather complex once you’re familiar with different varieties!
I took my inspiration from the “clever compact cooking” trend with a North African twist. Mint tea blini topped with spiced apricots and seeds. For the seeds I used a Waitrose snack pack of honeyed pumpkin and sunflower seeds but plain ones would do fine. My Schwartz kit oddly didn’t include cinnamon so that’s the one I had already.
An hour or two before, heat 125ml milk in a mug in the microwave and stir in 1 tsp dried mint. Leave to cool. Also heat 125ml milk in a mug in the microwave and dunk in a normal tea bag and leave to cool for a few minutes then take out before cooling completely.
Next take 12 dried apricots snipped into shards and soak them in a mug of hot black tea for at least ten minutes. Squirt 2 tablespoons of honey into a small pan, add 2 tbsp of the black tea from the apricots and 3 dried kaffir lime leaves, a pinch of ground cloves and a pinch of cinnamon. Heat through and simmer on a low heat whilst you make the pancakes.
With pancake day around the corner I’ve been trying out a new Tefal pan. I was surprised to see on the base it was made from titanium. The blini mould is also new – purchased last week on a day trip to Calais. The pancake batter doesn’t look hugely appetising but I kept the faith!
For the pancake batter, mix the milks with 100g self raising flour (I like mine to puff up), 1 egg, a pinch of salt and 1 melted tablespoon of butter.
Oil the pan and heat up!
Pouring the batter into the blini mould, holding one’s nerve that the bottoms won’t be burnt then flipping them over – I love that they look like baby crumpets!
Then finally drizzle with the stewed apricots and honey liquid and scatter with seed mix.
Pick up and bend in half to eat. The tea flavour was very distinct and I must say I like my tea in pancake form rather than a brown milky drink.
Pancakes as canapes – best warm obviously but surprisingly tasty cold too!
Post originally commissioned by Schwartz with payment in vouchers. With thanks also to Tefal for sample frying pans.
I neeeeeed that blini pan. I could so have done with that last night making the 180 I had to make sous cheffing for an event!
I also love the idea of tea blinis but am not a mint tea fan. Am thinking earl grey with perhaps some whipped cream and raspberries on top. Thanks for the inspiration !
I am a bit like you and am not keen on tea. But I love masala chai and tend to drink that instead. Using yes for blinis is inspired especially when you add some lovely spiced apricot compote. I like the trend predictions mainly because I love chilli and spices of all kinds. Know nothing about Brazilian food I must admit!
Nice idea Sarah. Note to self must make blinis!
I used to work for Schwartz, and the names on lids was brought around from consumers asking for them. Too hard to do otherwise on domed lids out of choice! But others managed it, and it looks like it’s finally happened for Schwartz. Shows I haven’t bought new spices for a while, because the ones I’ve recently bought prior to Christmas, and a couple since, still don’t have them on. Obviously just filtering through to the shops.