Nisha Katona

Traditional Masala Chai

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Preparation info

  • Serves

    1

    • Difficulty

      Easy

    • Ready in

      30 min

Appears in

30 Minute Mowgli: Fast Easy Indian from the Mowgli Home Kitchen

30 Minute Mowgli

By Nisha Katona

Published 2021

  • About

Masala Chai is something that many Indians will have in the evening along with a couple of salted biscuits. It’s usually a sweet milky tea with whole aromatic spices steeped in the liquor. I give you this version, but in truth you can add whatever spices you like, so feel free to play with the recipe and find the mix of spices that best soothes your soul at the end of a long, hard day.

Ingredients

  • 2 green cardamom pods
  • 1 clove
  • thumb-sized piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp Assam tea
  • 125 ml/4 fl oz/½ cup whole milk
  • 1 tbsp sugar, or to taste

Method

  1. Put the cardamom pods, clove and ginger in pestle and mortar and grind to a coarse paste. Set aside.
  2. Bring 150 ml/5 fl oz/generous ½ cup of water to the boil in a small pan. Add the spice paste and leave to boil away for 2 minutes, the reduce the heat to low, add the Assam tea and leave to simmer for 2–5 minutes, depending on how strong you like your tea.
  3. Add the milk and sugar to the pan and simmer for another 2 minutes, then taste the tea and add more sugar if necessary. Strain the chai through a fine-mesh strainer into a cup and serve hot.