My breakfast chai spice mix…

48 Replies

I realised recently that I don’t ever eat a meal that doesn’t have spices in it; whether it’s a full of cacophony of spices, or merely a sprinkle of roasted cumin or sumac, spices are a big part of my world. And it’s not just in my food, I start each day with turmeric capsules and a cayenne pepper capsule…I think if you cooked me I’d be pretty tasty!!! 

Let’s move on from that horrible idea…to my breakfast…

I cannot bring you a picturesque shot of my breakfast because I am far too happily eating it in the mornings to spend time pimping and preening the bowl for a perfect photo; I did consider making two lots one morning just to have one to make pretty, but who needs all that? This is a bowl for eating, not looks. 

This is my chai spiced banana porridge. And I love it!!! 

I eat this every morning, because I love it so much, it’s full of goodness, and if I even think about having something else, I already start missing my lovely porridge. I will tell you how I make it, but what I really want to share is my spice mix…

Which also isn’t pretty to look at really, but the taste and smell is beautiful! 

I was recently sent some chai spices and tea to try from my lovely friends at Spice Kitchen UK and this is what inspired my breakfast spices. I made the tea and spice infused milky drink as directed, but I was far more interested in trying the chai spices minus the tea…so I put some in my porridge. 

It worked really well except for the fact that the spice mix was created for making tea and being strained and therefore, the spices don’t need to be finely ground, consequently, I was biting into peppercorns and cardamoms which wasn’t so good, but the overall effect was fab. So I decided to make my own version..

Chai spice is made up of the spices that you would associate with Christmas: the beautiful cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger take you right into December. Add in the cardamom and black pepper and it becomes the wonderful chai creation of India. For my breakfast mix, I left out the pepper and increased the proportion of cinnamon, but you could of course amend it to your tastes..

Based on ground spices I mix:

4 tbsp cinnamon

2 tbsp ginger

1 tbsp cardamom

1 tbsp cloves

1/2 tbsp nutmeg

Mix together well and store in an airtight jar. 

To make my breakfast, I soak my oats overnight in water with a huge heaped teaspoonful of the spice mix, then add mashed banana in the morning before heating it all. And then I take time to eat it and savour it and love it…and then I start looking forward to the next morning when I can eat it all again! 

The aroma on its own is enough to make you smile! 

I’m sure this spice mix would work perfectly in cakes and muffins and drinks, it makes me remember Selma’s wonderful award winning chai spiced banana bread 🙂 

I hope you’re having a great start to the week xx

48 thoughts on “My breakfast chai spice mix…”

  1. sallybr

    I love spices too, but usually I am a bit careful with the cloves because for some reason I am super sensitive to its taste – if I add just a tad too much that’s all I will taste.

    had a big laugh with your remark about being tasty if someone cooked you, but then the dark side of it hit me and I immediately stopped laughing. You are safe with me 😉

    beautiful photos!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
    1. Elaine @ foodbod Post author

      Ha ha! I don’t need to fear ever being in your company then??!!
      I must admit, I’ve always steered clear of cloves in the past, but as I use them more, I like them more. Grinding cloves fills the whole house with Christmas!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓
      1. sallybr

        I think we also develop a tolerance to the taste – Phil started adding cinnamon to his smoothies a few years ago and once, a few months down the line I tasted one of his productions – to me it was incredibly strong in cinnamon taste, but he could barely detected, in fact he admitted he was adding more and more to be able to taste it – now he dialed it back a little. I bet the same happens for other spices – including salt, of course!

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Elaine @ foodbod Post author

        I think you’re right, I used to really dislike cinnamon too, and likewise, I’ve added more and more of it to my diet and now the flavours seems so much weaker..like you say, the same with other spices too..

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Anita Kushwaha

    This is wonderful! Thanks for sharing your spice mix recipe. 🙂 I’m going to have to give that one a try. I’m big on oatmeal lately too. I got a recipe for “Overnight Oats” from that vegan cook book I was telling you about called Oh She Glows. Well, the neat thing is, the oats are actual raw. Stay with me! Because they soak overnight in almond milk and other goodies, by the morning they are soft and you can’t even tell the difference. My husband loves them, and he’s not as food adventurous as I am. I can see this chai spice working very well with the overnight oats. Let me know if you want the recipe and I’ll pass it along. Unless of course you have already tried something like this! xox

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
    1. Elaine @ foodbod Post author

      Thank you 😘😀 I have tried lots of overnight oats recipes, I know what you mean about how the oats soften. I particularly like carrot cake overnight oats…very tasty!
      Please do send over the recipe xx

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓
      1. Anita Kushwaha

        I should have known you’d be all over it! 😉 I love the sound of carrot cake overnight oats. Do you happen to remember the recipe for that? I’ve also been hearing a lot about savoury oatmeal, which sounds intriguing to me. Here’s the overnight oats recipe I’ve been using lately, it seems pretty standard and a good jumping off point for experimentation. Last night before leaving it to set in the fridge, I topped it off with a spoonful of blueberry jam that I got at a flea market on the weekend, just for a touch of sweetness. I divide the oat mix into two small Mason jars to set overnight, one for me and one of Daniel.
        -1 cup oats
        -1 1/2 cups almond milk
        -1/4 cup chia seeds (I’ve also used ground flax and it worked well)
        -1 banana, mashed
        -1/2 tsp cinnamon (or your chai spice!!)
        Thanks, Elaine! xo 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Elaine @ foodbod Post author

        Lovely, that sounds good! The carrot cake version is very much the same, and it includes grated carrot, raisins and spices, again, pretty much like my chai spice. It’s lovely, it sets and the flavour develops overnight then you can just eat it as it is, nicer cold than warm 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Anita Kushwaha

        Yum! I didn’t make my overnight oats last night, and I really missed them this morning! 😉 xo PS. The novella is on the way to you! Sent it last night as I had hoped.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Johanne Lamarche

    I have oatmeal for breakfast every day also and I know I would love the Chai spices in it. Will try it soon. And I like the carrot cake idea too! My favorite is lemon zest and blueberries with a splash of maple syrup or honey, in the summer!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
  9. Eha

    Well, originally coming from NE Europe my breakfast tends to be a big mug of strong black coffee accompanied by a slice of dark or very seedy bread with all but the kitchen sink piled on top: the famous Scandinavian open sandwich 🙂 ! Don’t mind oats but since I am not a morning person the dish has always seemed to take too long to make! Hmmm!! Very much like the chai mix and will make it in the next few days – and since I love bananas I may give your interesting porridge a go: thanks you for the lesson!!! Would sure be healthy and set one up for the day . . .

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
    1. Elaine @ foodbod Post author

      As this is soaked overnight there is minimal effort required in the morning really…but it also doesn’t have to be eaten for breakfast…I would happily eat porridge any time of the day!
      I’m glad you like the sound of it xx

      Like

      Reply ↓

  16. Pingback: Spiced coconut chips.. | foodbod

Let me know what you think..

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.