Tea and Treats

Tea with a small sized sweet or savoury is a common marriage when drinking tea. It is a traditional combination that should not be broken.  Most cultures have their own version of bite size delights to go with their favourite tea.  A biscuit or a slice of cake with a cup of tea is commonly found in most European tea drinking settings. However the opportunity to try foods from other cultures to accompany different types of tea can be difficult outside of our own cultural setting.

An Amazing Array of Indian Sweets

The Northland region of New Zealand has been slow to be influenced by the tea cultures of other nations. However there is hope on the horizon. About two years ago when visiting Whangarei I was able to quench my thirst to try different aspects of Indian food. Like many people I enjoy a good curry. And despite my own good cooking skills I can never seem to make Indian food taste or present as well as the dishes I am presented with when I go to an Indian restaurant or takeaway. My experiences of Indian food have been limited to mainly the rice and curry dishes, Indian breads, side sauces and chutneys. For a long time I desired to try real  Indian Chai, a brew of black tea blended with spices and hot milk. It seems logical that the perfect accompanying food would be an Indian sweet or savoury.  

I had seen pictures of Indian sweets on T.V. travel programmes and in cooking books, but I have never seen the cooking programme that demonstrates how Indian sweets are made. Nor had I seen such sweets readily available in restaurants or the like.  

Around five years ago I begun to spot a couple of shops in Auckland displaying Indian sweets and desserts. Often short on time, in a city I am not overly familiar with, I would feel too reserved and shy to go into any of the stores and strike up a conversation with the shopkeeper to quiz them about these aesthetically pleasing treats. In turn if I did so I would have also revealed my ignorance about such foods. These wonderfully crafted oval and square shaped sweets always looked so exceedingly appetizing but the names were in their native language of which I had no comprehension,  hence giving no hint as to the ingredients from which they were made, further adding to the mystery. 

Then one day while in Whangarei, a town I am well familiar with, I happened to be wandering along Walton Street and passed by the Indian restaurant Shiraz. Next door, and divided off from the existing restaurant and yet still part of Shiraz, was a new store .  This small shop had several cabinets of brightly coloured Indian sweets and savouries I was keen to try.  This store was of a cosy inviting size, with colours and decor that was clean and modern.  The woman behind the counter was of a similar age as myself. The whole environment gave me the assurance and confidence to go and explore these Indian sweets that were so attractively displayed. 

With an inviting smile the woman who served me graciously explained the various items that took my fancy. She adequately translated from her own language into English what the different sweets were, how they were cooked and with what ingredients.  

Her patient explanations dispersed my ignorance about such foods and won me over.  I walked away with a colourful treasured box of tasty delights with the great anticipation that I was about to experience some new exotic food.  

Once home I savoured the visual delights of the sweets. The brilliant orange colours of one type, yellows, pistachio greens and chocolate browns of others, with some decorated with edible silver leaf, others with nuts and seeds. 

Eventually I allowing myself to taste my treats. Visually they looked like fudges, but I was surprised to find they were not sweet nor did they have the intense sugary sweetness I had anticipated. They were more like milky flavoured cakes than confectionery. My favourite was the round dimpled orange sweet made with chickpea flour that had a soaking of sugar syrup. Each sweet unique in flavours and textures, wet my appetite to revisit the store again another day. 

Haveli Chai with Indian Sweets

Two weeks ago I found myself back in Whangarei on a Saturday morning. 

I had completed my browsing of the Himalayan and Indonesian clothing and furniture stores on the same street. It was now time for some morning tea. I desired to add to my morning's shopping with a different cultural experience. The idea of trying some different flavoured Indian sweets appealed, but this time I was also keen to try an authentic Indian tea, with the traditional blend of spices to accompany my food. 

So I headed back towards where I knew the Indian sweet shop had been.  To my delight the shop  still existed in the same location, but it had changed its name since my last visit.  The shop is now called  HAVELI  - South Indian Cuisine, Delicacies and Desserts. 

The food cabinets are filled with a multitude of Indian sweets and savouries that are a feast for the eye. The items can be purchased either by the kilogram or individually. Most are priced at around $1.50 to $2.00 per item. Again the shop owner was only too pleased to take the time to describe the different items, how they are made, and what ingredients are used. Many of the dessert type sweets are made with flours such as chickpea flour, nuts, dried fruits, milk and some are flavoured sugar syrups, or traditionally decorated with silver leaf or nuts such as almond or pistachio. Many of the produces are suitable for vegetarians. 

This time I  purchased a selection of sweets along with a pastry-type savoury that had a lentil filling blended with spices such as clove and cinnamon. This combination gave me a great variety to sample with my tea. 

On a cold winters day relaxing with a warming spiced Indian tea with several savoury or sweet treats has got to be one of the  most pleasurable ways to enjoy one's day.  If you are in Whangarei go and spoil yourself at Haveli's  on Walton Street. For an added experience try their Indian chai. 

One lesson I have learnt:  Don't pass shops that you may be culturally unfamiliar with.   When you slow down and take the time to experiment with new foods and flavours, your life is enhanced. 
Invite a friend to join you and then you gain the double pleasure of enhancing their life with new experiences also.

Whenever you get an opportunity, choose to try something new. 

Have a great week.