As I’ve mentioned in the past, turmeric is known as a healing spice in traditional Chinese medicine. However, you don’t need to feel weak to enjoy this delicious hot drink. I was able to buy fresh turmeric root at a local Indian market a few months ago and I’ve stored it in the freezer since then. After going through our freezer today, I decided make good use of it and prepared a turmeric latte. It’s so delicious, soothing and relaxing, especially with the weather we’ve been having.
You could prepare this drink with the milk of your choice. If you decide to go with a lower calorie milk such as almond or cashew milk, you could add a bit of coconut cream, oil or ghee (Indian clarified butter) to the turmeric. A little bit goes a long way but it makes such a difference and adds extra oomph.
1. Info for Turmeric Latte Recipe
- Cook Time: unavailable
- Total Time: unavailable
- Servings: 2
- Calories: unavailable
2. Ingredients for Turmeric Latte Recipe
- 2 cardamom pods
- 1 (2-inch) chunk fresh ginger
- 1 (6-inch) chunk fresh turmeric root (or 2¼ teaspoons turmeric powder)
- 3 cups milk, see tips
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1½ tablespoons coconut oil (optional), see tips
- 4 teaspoons raw honey (to taste)
3. Directions:
- For the cardamom pods: In a mortar and pestle, pound the pods to release the seeds and grind them. Gather the cardamom powder.
- For the ginger and turmeric juice: Clean both roots and remove any dirt. Peel them with a paring knife. Grate the ginger and turmeric with a fine mesh microplane. Gather the grated roots and squeeze out all the juice using a small cheesecloth. Set the juice aside.
- For the milk: Heat the milk in a saucepan. Add the ginger and turmeric. Add the coconut oil (if using). Bring it to a near boil. Turn off the heat immediately and add salt, cardamom, cayenne pepper (if using) and vanilla extract. Sweeten with honey. Add the espresso shot for a stronger aroma. Stir well.
- For the coffee (if using; I didn’t this time): Brew espresso coffee. Add it to the milk.
- For the milk frothing: Measure about 1½ cups of the turmeric milk. Froth the milk. If you don’t own a cappuccino maker or frothing attachment to your espresso maker, check out the tip section .
- Assembly: Pour into the remaining hot milk into 2 cups. Top with the milk foam.
- Sprinkle with turmeric powder using a fine mesh strainer.
- Enjoy!
4. Tips and advices:
- You don’t have to use any other sweeteners such as agave nectar, maple syrup or regular granulated sugar.
- You could use soy milk, coconut milk, cashew milk, rice milk, almond milk, goat milk or regular cow’s milk for this recipe.
- You can froth the milk by hand. Just place 1½ cups of milk in a non-stick saucepan. It’s preferable to use whole milk because the higher fat content, the foamier the milk will get. Constantly whisk the milk until it’s hot. After 1-2 minutes, a generous amount of froth will form with a very small amount of hot milk at the bottom. While waiting for the milk to boil, you have to be very careful. As soon as some bubbles come up, remove from the stove and continue whisking the hot milk.
- Another speedy method to froth milk is to warm it in the microwave and foam it in a blender. This works, but I think it doesn’t create as much foam as the whisking version.
- If you don’t have a non-stick saucepan, my trick is to add a little water, wait until the water gets bubbly (not until it’s evaporated though) and add milk. The cleaning of the saucepan will be much easier.
- For an iced tea latte version, add ice cubes.
- For a smoothie version, add ice cubes and place in a blender.
- For a milkshake version, add vanilla ice cream and ice cubes. Smooth it in a blender.
