1
StepCrush the cardamom pods, cloves, peppercorns and a small piece of the cinnamon stick roughly in a mortar. Smash the unpeeled ginger with the flat of a knife so it bruises and gives up its juice.
Drinks
Masala Chai
Black tea boiled hard with crushed ginger and whole spices, then brought up with milk and sugar until it is dark and slightly thick. Boiling it repeatedly rather than steeping is what gives chai its body. Two cups take ten minutes and no equipment beyond a small pan and a sieve.
15 min
Prep: 5 / Cook: 10
2
servings
Easy
Difficulty
4.6
5 Ratings
Ingredients
- 250 ml water
- 250 ml whole milk
- 2 tsp assam tea
- 15 g ginger
- 5 pieces green cardamom
- 2 pieces clove
- 1 piece cinnamon stick
- 3 pieces black peppercorn
- 2 tsp sugar
Preparation
5 Steps
2
StepBring the water to the boil with the ginger and crushed spices and let it boil for 2 minutes, until the water goes cloudy and smells strongly of the masala.
3
StepAdd the tea leaves and boil for another minute, until the liquid is a dark mahogany colour.
4
StepPour in the milk and sugar. Bring it back to the boil, and as the foam climbs the side of the pan pull it off the heat, let it settle, then return it. Repeat three times — this is what makes it taste like chai rather than spiced tea.
5
StepStrain into two cups through a fine sieve, pouring from a height if you want a little foam on top. Drink it hot; it does not improve sitting around.
Chef's Tip
Crush the cardamom and pepper in a mortar just before using — pre-ground spice tastes dusty here and loses its perfume within days. Assam CTC is worth seeking out, because delicate leaf teas are simply flattened by the milk and boiling.
Comments (3)
halved the sugar and it was still lovely, just more gingery
works with oat milk but you have to bring it up much more gently
the three boils thing is real. i tried the lazy version first and it tasted flat.