Masala Chai or Spiced Tea
Rich, creamy, sweet hot drink steeped in black tea and blend of aromatic spices.
Servings: 2 people
Ingredients
- 1 cup Water
- 4 - 5 pods Green Cardamom / Elachi
- ½ inch Dried Ginger
- ¼ tsp Black Peppercorns
- 3 tsp Sugar or as per taste
- 2½ tsp Black tea leaves
- 1 cup Milk
Instructions
- Take green cardamom, dried ginger and black pepper corns to a mortar and crush it using a pestle. (Refer Note : 1)
- To a medium sauce pan, add 1 cup of water and crushed spices. Bring this to a boil on high heat. Then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 2 minutes.
- Add black tea leaves (Refer Notes : 2 - 4) to the simmering water and boil for 1 minute. Pour 1 cup milk (Refer Notes : 5 & 6) to the tea decoction and allow it to boil.
- Once it is boiled, turn the heat to low and steep for another 1 - 2 minutes. Turn off the heat (Refer Note : 7). Strain the masala tea to a steel mug/ cup. Add sugar/ sweetener and mix.
- Aerate the masala chai simply by pouring the hot chai back to the sauce pan from a height of 1 to 2 feet. Pour it back to the steel mug the same way and repeat the process a few times. This process of aerating the masala chai makes it more frothy, thick and tasty. (Optional step)
- Pour the masala chai to serving cups and enjoy with breakfast or snack.
Notes
- Add any of your favorite spices like cinnamon, cloves, and/or substitute dried ginger with fresh ginger. You can also make the masala chai spice blend beforehand. See the post on Masala Chai for more details.
- Preferred black tea options for masala chai is bagged or loose leaf - granular and powder form are also available. Refer blog post on Masala Chai for detailed information.
- Using too much tea leaves/ powder can make your tea bitter. For 1 cup of masala tea, 1 tsp of black tea leaves or powder will do. But it varies depending on each brands of tea. Adjust the quantities as required. It may take some trial and error.
- Tea bags can make the tea too strong or even bitter if it boils too long. So remove them before adding the milk.
- If using full fat milk, take 1 1/2 cups of water for 1 cup of milk. I have used low fat milk (1% or 2 % fat milk) in this recipe, so the ratio is 1:1.
- Best Non - diary milk option for Masala chai is coconut milk. Other substitutes are cashew milk and oat milk. Refer Masala Chai post for details on how to use non - diary milk for masala tea.
- Tea will tastes strong if you boil or steep it too long. Once you start to smell the sweet smell of tea, remove the masala chai from heat and strain immediately.