Tag Archives: Saladin Ahmed

Cardamom Tea – The Throne of the Crescent Moon

“Tea. Adoulla leaned his face farther over the small bowl and inhaled deeply, needing its aromatic cure for the fatigue of life. The spicy-sweet cardamom steam enveloped him, moistening his face and his beard, and for the first time that groggy morning he felt truly alive.”

–The Throne of the Crescent Moon, by Saladin Ahmad

Thoughts:

Now, let’s start with the simple fact that I love cardamom. As soon as I heard about this beverage, I knew I had to try it.

The book is set in a quasi Middle Eastern setting, which I took as my starting point. Having lived in Turkey for a year, I know how essential tea is to everyday life. I decided to go for spiced added to a base of actual tea (rather than just an herbal/spice infusion).  As I constructed the recipe, though, the realization slowly dawned that I knew this beverage I was making.

Chai.

What a wonderful example of how slightly changing the name of something defamiliarizes it enough for us to discover and wonder over it all over again. The flavor of the tea is rich and spicy, with the cardamom and ginger at the forefront. 

Cardamom Tea Recipe

Making: 15 minutes

Makes 2 servings

Cook’s Notes: As with all recipes, feel free to tweak this one to suit your own tastes!

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 ” fresh ginger, thinly sliced
  • 4-6 cloves
  • 7 cardamom pods, crushed (or 1 tbs. seeds)
  • 1 heaping Tbs. black tea leaves
  • Milk 
  • sugar or honey to taste

Combine ingredients except for milk and sugar in a saucepan, and bring to a simmer. Keep on the heat for about 5 minutes, then strain into serving cups. Add milk until it is a rich tan color, and sweeten to taste. Enjoy!

Cardamom Tea | Food Through the Pages

Yam Candies – The Throne of the Crescent Moon

“Litaz said a silent prayer for the girl and worried over the limits  of her own healing-craft. She pulled a clay jar from one of the low visiting room shelves and scooped a handful of golden yam candies from it. The sweet, earthy flavor filled her mouth and calmed her. They were expensive, these tiny reminders of home, but there was nothing quite like them.”

–The Throne of the Crescent Moon, by Saladin Ahmed

These are strange little tasty candies. Yams are sweet to begin with, so turning them into candies makes a good deal of sense. I made a very basic version, without any spices, although I think a little cinnamon, or even a dash of maple would be a nice addition.

The result is a candy that showcases all the wonderful, earthy flavors of these tasty root vegetables. The initial sweet flavor is followed by the yam, and the color is the same vibrant orange of sweet potato fries. They’re quirky, unlike anything I’ve tasted before, and have enough of a sense of “other” to be a great fictional dish!


Yam Candy Recipe

Prep: 30 minutes       Cooling: 30 minutes

Makes ~24 small candies

Cook’s Notes: My candies came out a tad chewy, which I liked, despite the fact I was aiming for hard candy, as per Twitter guidance from the author. 

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 Tbs. light corn syrup
  • 1/2 cup roasted yam, pressed through a seive
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar, for dusting

Prepare your molds by greasing them lightly. (I used a silicone mold with multiple shapes.)

Mix together the water, 2 cups sugar, and corn syrup in sauce pan and bring them to a boil. When you’ve got some nice big bubbles, add the yam puree, stir vigorously to combine, and continue heating until the mixture reaches the soft crack stage, around 280 degrees F. When it reaches that temperature, spoon or pour the mixture into the molds as fast as possible. Set aside and allow to cool 2 hours.

When the candies are cool, turn them out into a pile of powdered sugar. Rub the sugar into each piece of candy, making sure that it’s fully dusted; this will help keep the candies from sticking to one another. 

The candies should keep in an airtight container for a couple of weeks.