INDIAN MASALA CHAI (SPICED MILK TEA)

What makes an authentic Masala Chai is the use of freshly ground whole spices which are easily available at home. For many people it is a perfect way to kickstart the day.

Masala preparation time: 5 minutes      Tea preparation: 10 minutes         Total time: 15 minutes    

Ingredients for making masala:

• 25 green cardamom
• 2 inches of cinnamon stick
• 1 spoon of Fennel seeds (optional)
• Grated ginger as per taste
• Little milk, the quantity of milk depends upon of your liking,

The above masala will be enough to make approximately 20 cups

Method:

Mix cardamom and cinnamon and grind them in a grinder or food processor and keep in a jar. Separately fennel seeds can be ground and kept in a separate jar. This is optional.

Method of making masala tea:

1. Add water in a pan. Add ½ tsp of masala of the mixture of cardamom and cinnamon, ¼ tsp of fennel seed powder, little ginger and bring it to a boil. These ingredients can be increased and decreased as preferred. Once water starts boiling, let it simmer for 1 to 2 minutes. Now, the water is ready to make tea.

2. Add ½ tsp of tea leaves per cup in the water and bring it to a simmer for another ½  a minute. The time to boil the water after tea once tea is added depends upon the way you want to have it. If you prefer strong tea, then you should boil for a minute but if you want light tea, 30 seconds should be fine.
3. At this  point, add a little milk and let it boil for ½ to 1 minute. Once you see the brown color, you can switch the heat and drain it in a tea pot or in individual cups.

4. Enjoy the tea with snacks and biscuits.

Special note:

1. Any type of loose tea can be used. Though the popular one is a mixture of Darjeeling and Assam tea.
2. The ratio is ⅓ Darjeeling and ⅔ Assam tea
3. Tea is enjoyed with any type of pakoras such as alu pakoras, onion pakoras, mixed vegetables pakoras or cauliflower pakoras and with Almonds, coconut biscuits or peanut sandies.
4. All the above snacks are on this site Renurecipes.com site.
5. If you prefer to have a black tea, you can still have it following the same method but avoiding adding milk.