Ingredients:
- 4 cardamoms
- 1 black Cardamom
- 1 small Cinnamon stick
- 1 cup Milk
- 2 Peppercorns
- 2 teaspoons Sugar
- 2 teaspoons black tea leaves
- 2 cups Water
Instructions:
- Boil water in a pan with five spices, black cardamom, green cardamom, crushed pepper corns, cinnamon & cloves (lightly crush to bring out the flavors).
- Cover the pan with lid, as to my experience, there is a huge difference in the aroma of tea made covered and uncovered.
- Bring the water to boil and add Tea Leaves.
- I prefer brewing Taj Mahal Orange Pekoe or Brook Bond “Red Label” for my Chai's, can't beat the flavor.
- Let the tea leaves brew for 4-5 minutes in boiling water.
- Add 1/2 cup of milk and sugar to taste at this point & simmer for few minutes.
- When the tea is done, give it a grace period of another one to two minutes with lid covered, to let the spices lose all their flavor to the chai.
- Use a strainer to filter the tea into your tea cup.
- Lastly, to make every sip a complement, I like to garnish the tea with crushed green cardamom, lends it a great flavor…turning milk-addicts like me into tea lovers…!
I learned how to make this when my family was invited to dinner by my fathers physician, who was from India. He served this tea after dinner, and my mother fell in love with it. The physicians wife showed her how to make it, and mother drank it often. After I married, I forgot about it, as my husband preferred coffee. Now that I have the recipe, I am going to make it often, too. Thank you for the recipe!! (And the happy memories!)
Do you crush the cardamoms that are boiled, like the other spices? The woman who showed my mother how to make it didn’t, but said that some people do, and it was a matter of personal taste. My mother liked them crushed, as it gave a stronger flavor.