Chai-e-zanjafeel is Afghan ginger tea, and it has one ingredient you would not expect: walnuts, ground very fine and boiled into the tea with the ginger, so the cup turns cloudy and gains a little richness. Green tea is boiled briefly with brown sugar and strained, then the ginger and walnuts go in and it boils again. It is drunk after dinner, and in Afghanistan no spread of food is complete without tea of some kind. Serve it in small cups, with biscuits.
Zone: Silk Road Table
INGREDIENTS
- 1 litre water
- 3 tsp loose green tea
- 25 g light brown sugar
- 2-3 tsp ground ginger
- 25 g walnuts (very finely ground)
METHOD
- Bring the water to the boil, add the tea and sugar and boil for about 2 minutes. Strain.
- Return the tea to the pan and add the ginger and walnuts.
- Bring back to the boil and boil for about 2 minutes.
- Pour into small cups and serve.
NOTES
UK adaptation: Loose Chinese green tea such as gunpowder. Light brown or demerara sugar. Ground ginger from the spice aisle. Walnut pieces, ground very fine in a spice grinder. Serve with kulcha-e-birinji. Everything else widely available.
US adaptation: Loose gunpowder green tea. Light brown cane sugar. Ground ginger. Finely ground walnuts. Everything else widely available.
Cook’s note: Grind the walnuts as fine as you can. Coarse pieces sink and stay gritty; fine ones cloud the tea and give it body.
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