Have a cold? Cough? Digestion issues? Minor stomach bug?
Then try some Ajwain water….
Herbal Tea
Adrak-Tulsi ki Chai, (Ginger-Basil Tisane): Herbal Home Remedies
Kid-friendly, too.
A couple of months back everyone at home was going through a spell of colds and coughs.
A very valid reason to behave like a complete invalid.
The thing to do of course, is get plenty of rest and fluids.
Catch up on reading, if one can somehow manage to hold up a book to read!
And lots of Ginger Tea! There’s no such thing as too much comfort, is there?
This version of the chai, is a herbal infusion (tisane), a relatively mild version compared to the strong, sweet milky adrak-ki-chai (remember this?) – which is also highly recommended in such a case, but perhaps too rich to be had frequently throughout the day.
For a very bad sore throat or cold, though, we don’t mess around with teas, but instead squeeze the juice from freshly grated ginger, mix equal quanitity of honey and gulp down half a teaspoon or so of this extremely spicy mix ‘neat’! Concentrated, highly potent. Best had in small, spaced-out doses.
In this tisane, since there are no actual tea leaves used, it can be given to an ailing child, and if desired, by diluting it with hot water, or by omitting the boiling process and merely steeping the ingredients in hot water for a few minutes. And it can be had more often in milder versions.
Method:
Clean and grate (or crush) a piece of fresh root ginger. I like to scrape off the peel, but that’s optional.
Roughly chop some leaves of the tulsi plant (Holy Basil, Ocimum tenuiflorum or Ocimum sanctum).
Bring a pot of water to boil.
Add the grated or crushed ginger to it and boil for a while (2-3 minutes. Longer for stronger taste)
Watch out for rapid boil-overs! Keep the flame on simmer.
Add the chopped or pinched or crushed basil leaves, turn off the flame.
Cover, and let it steep for two or three minutes.
Strain.
Add honey, lemon juice, freshly milled black pepper to taste.
Feel much better. And get well soon.
Stevia Herbal Tea with Mint
Who doesn’t like a steaming cuppa?
One of the more popular uses of stevia is to sweeten teas and beverages. Here I found an interesting suggestion to make a tea using stevia in its dried leaf form and mint as a flavouring for the tisane. Naturally I had to try it.
Since I had the powdered version from ASR Herbals, which looks and smells much like dried and powdered pudina (mint), I used just an eighth of a teaspoon, and added a few fresh (ok, seen fresher days) pudina leaves.
The water boils –
Powdered stevia goes in –
The mint leaves, too. Simmered for 3-5 minutes, then strained.
Verdict:
Incredibly sweet (that was like adding two teaspoons of sugar!).
And again, the liquorice-like after taste (I’d say, faintly saccharin-like, too, if not for the bad connotation it lends) takes some getting used to. I can quite see how folks – even diabetics, who might appreciate a healthier, sweetener alternative, won’t instantly jump onto this bandwagon, if unfamiliar.
The sweetness lingers on in the mouth for quite some time afterwards (a bit like how the bitter taste of karela does). The fresh leaves version (of course, also containing lesser quantity of the leaf) doesn’t evoke such a strong response.
And, somehow or the other, the flavour of mint in tea always reminds me of toothpaste (never happens with pudina chutney, luckily.)
Certainly an acquired taste.
But I just might try it again (perhaps with lemon grass next time).
Simply because I’m rooting for stevia. (Pun not intended.)
Karha (mild) – Herbal Tea with Stevia leaves.
For those cold, wintry days.
Yes, I know. Anyone who’s familiar with “karha” will not associate the adjective ‘mild’ with it.
And the sweetener of choice is usually honey, not stevia leaves.
But a herbal tea is expected to be gentle, soothing, mild. Even the energizing variety has take effect in a calm sort of way. Not knock-your-socks-off, hiccup-inducing potions that leave you wondering (however cured) if Jeeves’ famous morning-after pick-me-up somehow features in the brew. Which is how all the karhas that I’ve ever had (usually to alleviate coughs and colds) usually are.
So, in my experiment (one of many) to try and get familiar with the taste of stevia, I decided to add some flavours that suggested themselves – Tulsi (Holy basil) because it was growing right next to it in the pot (I noticed how similar the leaves are), and ginger and black pepper out of sheer habit because that’s what typically goes into a karha along with the Tulsi. The only difference being that these are a fraction of the amount I’d normally use. Here’s the water simmering already.
In they all go – and simmer some more (3-4 minutes).
Into the pot – where they can get infused further for refills.
I quite like how they look. Nice aroma, too.
Verdict: Very good. I’ll certainly make it again. I like the sweetness levels with just the few stevia leaves, but will probably reduce the ginger to one slice instead of four, – it tended to dominate the flavours.
