masala chai

santurce

Hi everybody !!!!!!

Please, I need someone to explain me in a EASY WAY how to make that wonderfull thing called masala chai. I have real a few recipes about it, but I need to khown things like if I have to boild black tea separately and then add spices and milk or if I have to put all ingredients together from the very begining.

As I said, could anybody be so kind as to tell me how to make it from the very begining to the very end ????? I an willing to drink a hot cup of this wonderfull chai

THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!

Nick-H

There probably is no one, single correct way to do it!

I swear by boiling up milk, water, tea, sugar and spice all together and simmering for a minute or so.

But the tea stalls boil the milk and the tea separately, and, masala (spiced), or not, serve a damn good cup of chai!

So I'm going to stick my neck out and suggest you find the way that tastes best for you!

Then you too can tell everyone that your way is the best and only!

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ploink

My (unorthodox) masala chai process is:
I heat water till it boils. I add tea and spices (erm, MDH T-Plus masala, to tell you the truth ), and let them boil for a couple of minutes. I add milk, and when it boils... ta-daa! Google, for example, is simmering with different chai recipes.

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cyberhippie

Is there really any replacement on the home front for : Tea "dust" boiled all day, with the residual milk adding to the black gunk at the bottom of the "chai wallah's" pan???

Constantly replenished with fresh panni "tea" and dudh, the buffelo milk richness, the by now carmalised sugar boosted with another few "spoonfuls" of the fresh stuff!

The "expresso hand juggle" to add that expresso froth and served up in the mistiest of glasses.
All the while breathing in the scents of India from your roadside observatory.

Chai ain't a recipe, it's a way of life!!

Well that's the conclusion I've reached after my failed attempts at being a "chai wallah"

steven_ber

A couple of recipes in some older threads....

Chai
Happy Happy Chai Chai

Chai - The Enthusiast's Online Chai Resource. (A link brought to us by member Jorge Reverter.

Whilst waiting in the cold for the Indian High Commision to open, in a queue some 200 people long, I thought how wonderful it would be to hear someone coming round the corner shouting "Chai, Chai, Garam Chai".

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PeakXV

We go to a great Indian restaurant in Toronto and usually the last ones to leave ..... just digesting the food, chatting and listening to the Indian music. If we ask too late for masala chai they will tell us - to late Sir, impossible for us to chop, dice the spices - kitchen will be closing very soon. I've had masala chai, good masala chai, & great masala chai and wonder if the quality of the brew has all to do with the freshness/grade of the spices?

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steven_ber

I've maybe watched it being made on the street about 10 times, and every time they start boiling the milk in an old battered pan, then seconds later (or as fast as he can) he adds the tea, then the spices, then the mound of sugar, shakes the pan till it boils, then puts it through a sieve, then pours the chai from the pan (held shoulder high) into a glass (held waist high).

A great show, but all over in a couple of minutes.

kalyani68

The easiest way of all (though not quite as tasty as making it from scratch) is to get a box of masala chai tea bags from Tea India. The spices are already in the tea bag with the tea. Put tea bag in cup of water, nuke for 2 minutes, add milk and sugar. Stir and drink. Great for those busy work day mornings.

vmehra24

A north Indian way is to use no water--only milk. Use buffalo milk or Amul Gold (fat >6%). Chop ginger, boil in milk for 3-4 mins, add some sugar and tea (1 tsp for 2 cups)

Nick-H

TBH, when I buy from a street stall, it is usually not masala chai --- just plain ordinary Rs2.5 chai.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are regional variations to the method? In chennai, there is usually a pot of simmering milk and a pot of tea. An essential tool of the trade is a long, sock-like tea strainer that sits in the tea, and from which the tea leaves are occasionally dumped and new tea added, the tea being poured through this into the milk in a glass.

At the 'bottom end of the market' there will be an urn of tea, to which milk powder is added in the glass!

If you are unlucky enough to suffer a bad attack of TDS (Tea Deprivation Syndrome) when there is no hotel or chai shop in sight, you might be lucky enough to see a guy with an urn on the back of his bicycle. This is the TES (Tea Emergency Service), sort of equivalent to a paramedic on a motor-bike. It may not be great tea, but it will get you back on your feet so you can find a proper cup.

The worst thing, that happens here all too often, is sitting down, with as sigh and warm anticipation, in a cafe --- only to be told that they only serve coffee

icetea

Hmm, I never realised that there's much art involved in making masala chai! There might be in making the chai itself..but for masala chai, just add some spices

I put the desired number of cups of liquid, half water, half milk (this depends on how fat the milk is, the one we use is 3%) in a pan, and when it nearly comes to a boil add (black) tea (half tsp if it's dust, and 1 tsp if it's the normal type, and more if it's leaves). No need to boil more than a few seconds, then sieve. For masala chai just add some spices when you add the tea. The easiest is to put 1 crushed cardamom, or a combination of ginger powder, coriander & pepper.

Oh yes...and I forgot the sugar, you can boil it with the milk itself.

AvidTrekker

Refer to this thread "how to make ginger tea?"

Also search with "ginger tea" ... it will yield many more results.

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ranjan154

It is really great to taste the true masala tea.

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Nick-H

The true masala tea has many more spices in it.

In the brand of masala powder that I buy (don't scoff --- do you nake the stuff six or seven times a day? And want it to taste more or less the same each time? )---

Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, black pepper, cardamon

And the last time I quoted this list, I think there were several suggestions for other spices to include.

BenV

We bought some spice mixes and teas in a shop in Jaisalmer. This guy told us to heat water together with assam tea (strong black tea) until it boils, then add milk and the masala spices and heat it until it boils again. I have tried it twice so far: the first time there was too little tea and too much spices and the second time too much tea and still too much spices