One of the very very neat things about writing a tea blog is that I can make myself all sorts of concoctions with abandon. It’s fun, educational, and tasty for me, and fairly amusing to friends & family who see me somewhat hopped up on a constant smooth caffeine high.
Today is a day that will go down in history for me: the day that I made my own masala chai. Oh. My. God.
First, a note on the word chai: It literally means tea.
- Mandarin Chinese: Cha
- Chinese Amoy Dialect: Te (pronounced tay)
- Dutch & German: Thee
- Italian, Spanish, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Hungarian & Malay: Te
- English: Tea
- French: Thé
- Finnish: Tee
- Latvian: Teja
- Korean: Ta
- Tamil: Tey
- Sinhalese: Thay
- Scientist-ese: Thea
The Mandarin, cha, became ch’a in Cantonese and passed as cha to Portuguese (during trade at Cantonese-speaking Macao) and so also to Persian, Japanese and Hindi, becoming shai in Arabic, ja in Tibetan, chay in Turkish, and chai in Russian.
From The Tea Companion, A Connoisseur’s Guide, by Jane Pettigrew.
So, for the love of loose leaf, please try not to order a “chai tea”. Especially if you are riding the railways in India. Unless, of course, you enjoy seeing people smirk at you.
So anyway, I had intended on making an entry on masala chai (masala = spice). And the thought occurred to me, “why not make my own?” I’ve never done it before, and what better way to be inspired?
I’m lucky to have relatives who travel all over the world. My dad brought me back some beautiful teas from his recent trip to India, including a Darjeeling Mountain tea. It was this one I decided to use for my “Indian Masala Milk Chai”. Here is my recipe:
- Boil 2 cups water in a stainless steel saucepan
- Add: A cinnamon stick, 4 cardamom pods, 4 whole black peppercorns, a little ground or whole cloves. In a moment of inspiration, I also added a spoonful of shredded coconut because I had it in the cupboard and thought, “why not?”. You could also put in a little crushed ginger, but I didn’t feel like it this time.
- Also toss in 2 tsp. loose leaf black tea
- Boil for 1-2 minutes
- Chant some sort of mantra to make it fun and more authentic.
- Add 2 cups milk (not skim) and a tsp. vanilla and let cool.
- Add sugar: brown, white, maple syrup, honey, whatever. To taste.
- Strain the mixture into your favorite mug (this is no time for fine bone china) and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
- Never buy store-bought again.
This turned out so well, that I plan on making it whenever I need to be soothed or warmed. I’m also going to make it for anyone who wants to try it. It’s the kind of thing that needs to be shared.
Some of the main spices used in masala chai. Photo by Move The Clouds, flickr.com
If you want to know more about masala chai, here are some very nice links with recipes for chai, and recipes that use chai.
