I have been obsessed with masala chai for over 10 years now and I really don’t know what took me so long to go figure out how to make it at home. I used to just fix my cravings at Coffee Bean and in the past 1 year, I’ve been relying on the Chai capsules compatible with my Nescafe Dulce Gusto but for some time now, they’ve stopped making Chai capsules. 🙁
I finally got down to figuring out the masala chai recipe when I was presented with some of the spices when I went for the Octoburst preview and I was inspired to go to the Indian spice stall to get the spices!
I tried maybe about 5 times before I finally got the recipe that I liked. The balance between the milk and water – that’s what really made a difference to the taste. Sometimes it turned out too milky, sometimes too watered down… and then finally, somewhere along the line, I nailed it.
I referred to a few online resources about making masala chai and the one thing that stood out in all the sites was that you need to bring the chai to a boil TWICE – once with the water and once with milk added. And The Hathi Cooks recommends NOT using low fat milk because it totally doesn’t taste like masala chai – and I must say she’s absolutely right! I used low fat milk in one of my experiments (not knowing it was low fat milk because I had asked my mother-in-law to get milk for me and I forgot to specify what type, assuming she’d buy the same pack I had finished) and the chai tasted… not milky at all. So yup, some things just gotta have that fat to pack that punch!
Now I can finally have my masala chai fix whenever I want! And a cold, rainy day is the best time to make (and drink) one. 🙂
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 cardamom pods
- 4 cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper or whole black peppercorns
- 1 slice ginger (0.1cm thickness)
- ¾ cup water
- 1.25cup milk (at least 3% fat)
- 3 2g black tea bags or 6g of loose tea leaves
- 4-5 teaspoons sugar
- Using a pestle and mortar, pound the cinnamon, cardamom pods and cloves. If using whole black peppercorns, add them in too.
- Place them in a saucepan together with ginger and water.
- Bring the water to a boil, turn off the heat, cover the saucepan and steep for 15min.
- After 15min, add milk and bring to a gentle simmer on low-medium heat.
- Add the tea bags and sugar. Stir and press the teabags gently with the ladle to speed up the infusion of the tea till all the sugar is melted.
- Cover and steep the tea for a further 3 min.
- Strain and serve.
Click the link for the complete list of drink recipes (with thumbnails) on the blog.
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Totally trying this!! I’m a big masala chai fan too!
Estella recently posted…The “Good Night, I Love You” song
Hope you like it!!
I was just thinking about this when I had my chai tea! Will give this a try 🙂
Agatha (aka Agy) recently posted…Upcycled Jeans Roundup (and a bit of history!)
Hope u like it! Where was your chai from today?
It was at Starbucks – tea bag in a mug at $4.20. Going to pop down to the wet market -love how we can find these ingredients so easily in Singapore.
Oh my! Yes, please get the spices n make a satisfying chai at a fraction of that cost!
Yum! This sounds so good. I love warm chai tea in the winter!
Barbara Boser recently posted…7 Flavored Water Recipes