Masala Chai from India

A friend and I share Chai together!

"Every time is tea time." This is one of the five basic rules about Indian culture. And you experience it everywhere. Chai wallah's roam the streets and train cars and even among the boats of Ma Ganga in Varanasi with their steaming tea pots and carrier filled with little cups, which they will fill for you for about five rupees. And with a filled steaming cup, you remain in company together so when you finish the chai you can return the cup. It's a perfect system of reusing materials and honoring the sacredness of food and partaking of it in the company of others.

Some of my first memories of India involve gathering around chai and savoring it's smooth taste. I remember drinking chai after my first rickshaw ride, a bit in disbelief at the whole experience. And in Kolkata, I remember waking up in the early morning to a knock on our door and hearing a monotonous voice saying Chai, and we'd open our room door to receive two small dixie cups (one for each of us) of chai, which we'd sip in bed, cuddled under the blankets. Bed chai. Families and villages would welcome us with with chai and biscuits (and sometimes little bananas too). In India the taste of chai became the taste of hospitality.

Masala Chai is especially a favorite among Indians-it is spiced Assam that is claimed to have many health benefits. While in South India, I took a cooking class and experimented with making masala chai. See, the thing about Indian culture is there is no such thing as a strict recipe. You add a little bit of this and a generous heap of that. It's about the scents of the spices you like and the flavors you are looking for. So, that being said, I learned how to make chai from watching other Indians and adding some twists of my own, according to the flavors of spices I like. This recipe is a guide and you should feel free to be creative with it too. As our cooking teacher Gautham told us "The kitchen is your laboratory and you are the one making wonderful creations and discoveries. It is your place to experiment."

So here is a guideline for YOU to be creative with...

Masala Chai

In a sauce pan heat to boiling...
1 c milk
1 c water
1 1/2 t assam tea (loose leaf-or any type of black tea)
2 t brown sugar (more if you like it sweeter)

Once boiling turn to low heat and simmer for 3-5 min and add

-approx 0.5-1 inch fresh ginger (peel outer layer off)
-1 t cinnamon
-1/4 t cardamom
-a few grinds of black pepper (maybe like 0.25-0.5 teaspoons)
-a few whole cloves (or ground cloves)
-a few fennel seeds

Strain out tea leaves and ginger root before serving. Goes well with good company and conversation. Biscuits add a nice touch too (but are not necessary. fun fact: due to the British influence in India, any kind of British biscuit will give you a rather authentic experience as we commonly had a shortbread type biscuit with our chai). 

Thanks, Tessa Gerberich for this authentic Chai recipe!