I have already made my recipe for a vegan chai cream in various versions, refining it with every new variation. Since the beginning of 2022, I have been cooking for various yoga retreats, where this chai-spiced and sweet dessert has become more and more popular. Again and again, I have been asked to share this recipe. A good reason to share this recipe for the best vegan chai cream with you!
About chai.
Have you ever wondered what chai actually means? Quite simply: tea! The words tea and chai are used in an incredible number of languages and are therefore almost as international as the drink itself. In the Western world, chai is understood to mean spiced tea. In India, where the spicy tea drink comes from, it is called Masala chai, where Masala simply means spice. Masala chai is drunk sweetened.
India is known for its aromatic and almost infinitely varied spices. This means, Masala chai always tastes different. Classically, it contains cinnamon, pepper, cardamom, aniseed and ginger. As with many other popular recipes, there are regional differences which spices are chosen and what is used to sweeten the Chai tea. Naturally, each tea connoisseur has his or her own favorite blends.
The spices in chai are healthy and have been known for many centuries. For much is this, what rooibos chai stands for. This tea does not contain tea leaves like a black tea, but the digestible and fine-tasting rooibos (Rooibos means red bush and grows in South Africa only). Rooibos is not a tea, but a leguminous plant and therefore very digestible. I prefer my chai with rooibos rather than black tea for all-around healthy tea enjoyment.
Want to learn more about spice blends and chai? Check out my post Spice Chai Latte.
About chai-spiced cream.
The various spices from the chai tea bag will give a good base for the taste, which I complement with more spices, cashews, coconut cream, agave syrup for the sweetness and tofu (yes that’s right!). Of course, you can as well experiment with this recipe to your liking and add a little more of your favorite spice, for example. For the chai cream, you can use cocoa powder, as I did, or alternatively melted vegan dark chocolate.
To serve, I use two large dessert glasses, some berries, a mint leaf and chopped cashews. If you like roasted flavors, you can simply toast them briefly before serving.
Vegan Chai Cream
Ingredients
- 2 spiced chai tea bags (with only a bit or completely without black tea)
- 100 ml boiling hot water
- 50 g cashews
- 100 g tofu white natural tofu
- 150 g coconut cream
- 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 pinches cinnamon
- 1 pinch cardamom
- 1 pinch clove powder
- 4 Tbsp agave syrup
Instructions
- For this recipe you need coconut cream as an ingredient. I call the fatty part of the coconut milk the coconut cream. To get the coconut cream, is easy: Put a can of coconut milk in the refrigerator overnight. Next day the coconut milk will have separated. At the top of the can is the solidified fatty part, the coconut cream. You will need 150 g of this for 2 servings of this recipe.
- Boil water in a kettle. Then pour the boiling hot water over tea bags and let infuse for 5 min. Then take out the tea bags.kettle
- Pour hot water over cashews and let soak for at least 15 min.
- Roughly chop tofu and put into a bowl along with all ingredients including soaked cashews (without soaking water) and tea.
- Mix well with a food processor or a hand mixer until smooth.
- Then pour into 2 dessert glasses and put in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour; the still liquid cream will become more solid.
- Decorate with e.g. fresh berries, mint leaves and chopped cashews.
