Garma Garam Chai: The Tea Culture in Bangalore

With the cool of winter gradually settling in Bangalore, I’m sure everyone one would want to curl their hands around a hot cuppa and cozily slurp up the contents. Yes South India has the coffee culture and nothing beats the good old filter coffee.  However, in the past few years, tea culture has really picked up in the city. It’s matured from serving the classic plain tea, to serving it up with added indigenous ingredients like tulsi, ginger, cardamom and masala to specialty teas such as jasmine, peach, white tea etc. etc. For the health conscious there is a whole range of green teas and herbal teas being served. Besides there are people like me, who would pick tea over coffee anyday.

In this post I’m going to be talking about a few good tea bar/cafe options for Bangaloreans.

Infinitea: This is a premium tea bar located at Cunningham Road. It attracts a lot of foreigners besides the uber chic crowd of Bangalore.  Serves a lot of tea types – blacks, greens, oolongs, fruits, herbals and exquisites.  Also has good spread of snacks to go with. Ambience is great too! I rate it as excellent and strongly recommend to all tea connoisseurs. Read Reviews here.

Chai Patty: small tea shacks located at three locations in Bangalore – Indirangar, Kormangala, Whitefield. I’ve tried the one at 100 Ft. Indiranagar. The joints are rustic in feel … similar to roadside shacks with modas, floor seating and chai served in kullads (earthen ones). The teas are okay and snacks (pakodas, maggie, pasta etc.) are good in taste. But, with the amount they charge and the quantity they serve and considering they are not premium/specialty, it’s not worth my loyalty. I would still recommend tea lovers to give it one try. Some of you might like it. Read Reviews here.

Socie-Tea: located at Indirangar 13^th Main, I happened to visit their Facebook page and decided to give it a try. The experience wasn’t bad at all. Again, this place has a rustic feel to it … floor seating, wooden furniture, chai and pakodas on the menu. I went for the good old masala chai … the quantity was good for the amount they charged. My only criticism is that the tea was a little too watery for my liking. Overall a decent place for some garam chai without leaving a hole in your wallets.

Tea O’Clock: I happen to know this one because it’s located at the back gate of Baghmane Tech Park (where I work). I think all office goers and sutta people know how important a good glass of chai is; during one of those mid-day breaks or post lunch breaks when we are literally snoring away in front of our computers. TOC offers what all office people need …  really really good chai which refreshes you and keeps you going @ work. You can choose from plain, tulsi, ginger, illaichi, masala, lemon and black. I think they should open more outlets in office cafeterias, in food courts and behind many more tech parks. This one is always thronging with ID badge wearing folks!

That was my Tea round up. Having one right now … sooor … sooor. Having tea is not fun without soooring it from a cup! :-)

Tex-Mex Tacos

Ingredients:

For Guacamole:

•  2 avocados, peeled and deseeded
• ½ bunch coriander, washed and chopped
• 1 tomato, diced
• ¼ red onion, diced
• Salt to taste
• Juice of 1 ½ limes

For Filling:

• 1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 button mushrooms, diced
• 2 zucchini, small diced
• ½ cup sweet corn kernels
• 1 cup purple cabbage
• Salt and black pepper 

For Tacos :

• 2 Cups Flour
• 1 Cup Corn Flour
• Salt
• Water
• Vegetable/Olive oil

Preparation:

Tacos: Mix the flour and corn flour, add some salt and make a soft dough adding water as required. Leave the dough aside

Filling: Heat oil in a large frying pan. Cook onions over a medium to high heat until transparent. Add mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes or until reduced in volume. Add remaining ingredients zucchini, corn, purple cabbage and cook until mixture becomes semi dry. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Glaucomole: Scrape avocado and place in a bowl. Add the chopped coriander, onion, tomato, green chilli, lime juice & salt. Grind in mixer and keep aside.  

To serve:

Divide dough into equal parts and roll it. Then cook on hot tawa, applying oil on the both the sides. Cook till its light brown on both the sides.

Apply a layer of glaucomole on half side of taco and then add filling on  top of it. Turn the other half on top of the filled one and make it a half circle (as seen in the pic)

Serve with small slice of lemon on top of it Mexicana ishstyleeee…..

Enjoy…  J