Masala Chai
on Sustainable Dignity (India), 21/Jan/2010 09:29, 34 days ago
Corey writes:To fulfill the promise from last week: here is a recipe formasala chai. If you practice this recipe, you might become achai wallahSlumdog Millionaire.SuppliesVery small grain strong black tea. Ripping open a few bags of Lipton might get you what you want.SugarWhole, full-fat, death milk (If you try to make this with skim, bad things will happen to you)Potable water (you are lucky if this comes out of your tap)1 cinnamon stick -OR- 6 whole cardamom pods -OR- fresh ginger rootFine mesh strainerMethodPour about 1/2 C. milk and 1/4 C. water per person in a saucepan. Add the cinnamon or cardamom or ginger. If you are totally insane, add all three.Put the pan on medium-high heat, but watch it closely after about 3 minutes, because it will boil over very easily.Once the mixture starts to boil, turn the heat down to low and add about 2/3 Tbsp tea per person and 1 heaping Tbsp sugar per person.Let the mixture simmer for about 5 minutes. Then kill the heat and strain it into glasses.You're going for about 2/3 cup of tea per person, no more. I once served our neighbor an American-sized 1 1/3 C. serving, and she said "ohhh this is too much, Corey!"You'll never go back to the crappy powdered stuff again!