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Masala Chai I Recipe

India

Masala Chai I

Masala chai is a spiced version of the typical Indian milk tea. As with much of Indian cuisine, the exact mix of dry spices varies greatly and is often handed down in families from one generation to the next.

Ingredients

Masala mixture

  • 100 grams powdered ginger
  • 25 grams cloves
  • 100 grams whole black peppercorns
  • 60 grams whole cinnamon, broken small, or 40 grams ground cinnamon
  • ½ seed of nutmeg, crushed
  • 35 grams green cardamom pods

Chai

  • ½ cup water
  • 1 ½ teaspoon sugar
  • ¾ teaspoon dried tea leaves—to be traditional, a strong Indian tea such as an Assam is best.
  • 1 pinch of masala mixture
  • ½ cup milk

Procedure

Masala

  1. Combine all of the spices, and blend well in an electric grinder.
  2. Store the powder in a clean container at room temperature; you only need a small quantity for each cup of chai, and a full recipe will keep you stocked full of chai for months.

Chai

  1. Boil water and milk together in a saucepan.
  2. Add sugar, tea leaves, and masala. Boil until the mixture becomes dark (about 5–10 minutes); the longer you boil, the stronger the chai.
  3. Strain into teacups to serve.

Adapted from Wikibooks Cookbook · Cookbook:Masala Chai I, CC BY-SA 3.0.