chai poached pears in ginger syrup

prep 10 mins cook 20 mins Serves 2-4

The inspiration for this dish came from my attempt to use up the syrup from an emptied jar of stemmed ginger—though I’ve adapted it to work with different ingredient options so you don't need to hoard half-empty jars in your pantry—unless you feel so inclined to, like I do.

The recipe builds depth using whole cinnamon sticks (I use cassia sticks) for an intense, earthy warmth—something I learnt from my family’s Indian cooking.

This recipe also uses ground cinnamon. I find supermarket jars of this tend to be muted in flavour. So I highly recommend buying it in bulk bags from Asian spice companies. I find this method is economical, sustainable & far more flavourful (my motivating principles of cooking….)

Enjoy!

poached pears
6-8 ripe pears (cored)

ginger syrup for poaching liquid
150g caster sugar
½ tsp salt
90g fresh ginger (minced)
or
1 tbsp ground ginger

poaching liquid
1 batch ginger syrup (from above)
500ml water
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp cardamom pods (cracked)
1/4 tsp turmeric (ground)
1/4 tsp black pepper
3-5 cloves (whole)

to serve
4 tbsp greek yoghurt or crème fraîche
1 tbsp ground cinnamon (for dusting)

for the ginger syrup

  1. If making the ginger syrup component, add your minced fresh ginger or dried ground ginger to the poaching pan (off heat) along with the caster sugar. Pause here and continue with the recipe as follows.

for the poached pears

  1. Peel, slice in half, and then core your pears. I use a small measuring spoon to do the coring easily.

  2. Place the pears in the pot along with the water, your chosen ginger syrup option, and the spices. Cover partially with a lid and cook on medium heat until the pears are fork-tender— about 20–25 minutes.

  3. Remove the pears and continue cooking the syrup until it reduces to a pourable consistency (about 10 minutes). It doesn’t need to be thick like honey, but more so a light, glossy glaze.

  4. Once reduced, taste the syrup once more and add a squeeze of lemon or lime juice to your liking. This helps balance the sweetness.

to serve

  1. Lay two halves of the poached pears on a dish, followed by a generous spoonful of thick yogurt or crème fraîche.

  2. Pour a spoonful of the reduced poaching syrup over the top and finish with a dusting of cinnamon.