Beautifully thirst quenching in hot weather.
Everyone in India loves tea, but their brew was new to me- in fact, when I read about tea leaves boiled up with milk, sugar and spices whilst I was sitting in my kitchen at home, I didn’t much like the notion; but on the first of several visits to India I became devoted to masala chai- it is beautifully thirst quenching in hot weather.
Having asked about and watched its preparation, this is how I now make it in my kitchen in east London...
With a pestle and mortar, while the kettle is boiling about a pint of water, I crush the following ingredients to a messy pulp-
A ( hazel!) nut size piece of ginger root, and another of turmeric root, a few peppercorns, a couple of cardamom pods, a clove, a flake of cinnamon bark and a small grating of nutmeg. You can vary the spices to your own taste, obviously.
Then I pour the boiling water into a small saucepan, scrape the spices into the water, add 2 teaspoons of any black tea- assam Ceylon etc ( or the contents of 2 teabags).
I add a generous slosh of milk- far more than I’d usually add to my tea! and still more unaccustomed I put in a teaspoon of dark brown sugar.
I found jaggery for sale locally in London, and now I use this- it is unrefined cane sugar in lump form and adds a certain something. (Mostly I think I just love the name- jaggery- and the memory of buying some in a market in Jaipur.)
I bring this to the boil and stir for a few minutes.
Then I simply strain my masala chai into a favourite mug, and sip it in the shade in my back yard, amongst a cheerful gang of clashing pink red and orange geraniums.