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Apricot, Raisin, Goji and Chai Balls

Sitting down in my favourite chair by the fire in winter with a teapot of steaming spiced tea ‘chai’ is one of my simple little pleasures. The term ‘chai’ comes from the Hindi word for tea and that orginally came from the Chinese word for tea – cha. However, in India ‘chai’ refers to tea with a heavenly mix of spices like cinnamon, mace, black pepper, cardamon, clove, nutmeg, star anise just to name a few.

This spiced tea is often called masala chai. In India, every housewife had their own recipe for masala whether that was for chai tea or use in a curry for masala simple means a blend of spices. How wonderful that everyone had their own family recipe for selecting, grinding and blending their masala spice mix although nowadays they pop along to the local supermarket and pick a packet of pre-made masala mix.

Imagine how many versions there could be! I used this inspiration as permission to  experiment with lots of different spices in this simple bliss ball recipe. Every time I make these little balls of bliss I change the spice mix and below is my current masala mix – Margot masala. I would love to hear about your favourite combination.

 

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (130g) of cashew nuts
  • 1 cup (75g) of desciated coconut
  • 1 cup (150g) of raisins
  • 1 cup (150g) of dried apricots
  • 1/2 cup (60 g) of sunflower seeds
  • 2 tbl of goji berries
  • 2 tbl of cacao nibs (optional)
  • 2 tspn of cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon of cardamon
  • a pinch of ground cloves
  • 1/4 tspn of nutmeg
  • 1 tbl of lemon zest
  • 1/2 tspn of salt

Method

  • Process the cashews, sunflower seeds, coconut, salt, lemon zest and spices until it is in rough chunks.
  • Slowly add the apricots and raisins until they are well combined. The mixture needs to hold together. If not add more raisins or apricots and process again.
  • Transfer the mixture to a separate bowl and add the goji berries and cacao nibs.
  • Roll into small balls. Store in the fridge.