It's time for another hot chocolate recipe! Today we have the Ginger, Kawakawa and Pepper. Hopefully, if you live in New Zealand, you can find yourself some kawakawa growing wild. Here in Wellington it's all around us.
Remember - if you're attempting to make these recipes at home, they won't work if you switch the drinking chocolate for a standard hot chocolate powder. It's not just about our drinking chocolate being much higher quality, it's actually a different kind of product with different ingredients and a different processing method. You can read more about this in our previous blog piece.
Ingredients (serves two)
300ml oat milk (you can use a different kind of milk if you like, but oat gives the best flavour)
8 kawakawa leaves, ripped into small pieces
25g fresh ginger, diced
10 grinds of black, white or pink pepper
Instructions
1. Put the kawakawa, ginger and milk into a saucepan, making sure to put the lid on. Heat the milk until it starts to bubble, then turn off the heat and leave the pan on the stove top for 45 minutes.
2. Remove the kawakawa and ginger from the milk using a sieve. You'll need to pour it into a bowl, then return the strained milk to the saucepan.
3. Return the milk to the stove and bring it back up to almost-boiling point.
4. Set your pepper grinder to very-fine and add about ten grinds to the milk.
5. Add in the drinking chocolate and stir vigorously until the chocolate is fully dissolved. When you use real chocolate like this it takes longer to mix together than a cheap hot chocolate powder. You will need to keep it on the heat for a few minutes whilst you stir.
6. Serve in small cups. Add another grind or two of pepper to garnish.
This recipe is designed to be served in small, intense doses. If you'd prefer a larger cup of less intense hot chocolate, simply add a bit more milk.