Bright Suns

It seems that just about everywhere there has been cold, blustery, and downright gross weather to start the day off recently. With that in mind, we’ve been transforming our kitchen into the breakfast nook of Batuu to whip up a pair of warm beverages that are sure to make you forget about the dreariness right outside your door and transport you to a distant system where the suns are rising.

The first drink we’re whipping up is the Bantha Chai, a specialty for all of those who are looking for a new way to enjoy blue milk and need something a little warm to start their days off right.

BANTHA CHAI

Ingredients:

2 Cups Rice Milk (or milk of your choice)

1 Blue Butterfly Pea Tea Bag

1 Inch Fresh Ginger Root (thinly sliced)

2 Tsps. Arrowroot Powder

1 Pinch Ground Cardamom

1 Pinch Ground Mace

Sugar (to taste)

Directions:

Whisk together the milk and arrowroot powder in a small saucepan.

Place over medium-low heat.

Add remaining ingredients and allow to heat until steaming, whisking occasionally.

Let the mixture steep for 5 minutes. Look for blue coloring and the strong smell of spices.

Remove from heat.

Remove tea bag from mixture.

Strain into a clean mug.

This one is fairly straightforward, although the critical step is in removing the tea bag before straining. I, and my kitchen, learned that lesson the hard way. This has a strong taste of ginger, with the cardamom and mace coming in mostly as an aftertaste. I would definitely make this again, as it has a wonderful warming quality the comes not only from being a hot beverage, but also the spices that make it a perfect addition to a fall or winter line-up. The only thing I may change would be the rice milk, which I would consider replacing with regular milk (2%), as the rice milk has a thinner feel in my mouth than I would like. If you can’t find blue butterfly pea tea bags or arrowroot powder from your local grocery store, both are easy to find on Amazon.

Moving on to something a bit more high-octane, the Sunrise Caf is the Batuu version of an amped up latte.

SUNRISE CAF

Ingredients:

1 Cup Prepared Black Coffee

1/2 Cup Milk

1/4 Cup Heavy Cream

1 Tbsps. Coconut Oil

2 Tsps. Turmeric Powder

½ Tsps. Five-Spice Powder

Brown Sugar or Other Sweetener (to taste)

Directions:

Combine coffee, milk, coconut oil, five-spice powder, and 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder in a small saucepan.

Place over medium heat.

Heat until steaming, but not bubbling, then remove from heat.

Let mixture infuse for about 5 minutes.

In a small jar or cocktail shaker, combine the heavy cream and the remaining teaspoon of turmeric powder.

Shake the heavy cream and turmeric for approximately 30 seconds, until somewhat thickened.

Pour coffee mixture into a mug, sweeten to taste, and top with thickened turmeric cream.

This has a great flavor to it, but the coconut oil always seemed to be leaving a layer of oil atop of the concoction. With some trial and error, we found that blending together the mixture ever so briefly in a blender before topping with the cream helps to alleviate some of that separation. The turmeric gives it a strong curry-like taste, so if this isn't a flavor spectrum that you enjoy, this may not be the hot beverage for you. For us though, it was delicious. Also, you should use whatever coffee tastes best to you for this recipe, although I would hesitate to utilize anything that is flavored. For our take on this classic from Batuu, we opted to use Joffrey’s Organic Peru Alto Mayo coffee.

While Batuu may be known for its cocktails and novel approach to blue and green milk, these two recipes from Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: The Official Black Spire Outpost Cookbook are welcoming in an entirely different way. Neither is overly complicated to prepare and both have something to offer when there is dreary or chilly weather outside, no matter what corner of the galaxy you reside in! I hope you’ll give them a try and let us know what you think.