You can enjoy this aromatic masala chai for your morning or evening tea. Masala Chai is a hot beverage made with water, whole spices, black tea powder, sugar, and milk. This delicious Indian spiced tea only takes 10 minutes to make!
About Masala Chai
It is a favorite beverage of Indians to drink masala tea. Mornings and evenings are popular times for Indians to drink tea. In this case, ‘Masala’ refers to spices, while ‘Chai’ is a tea beverage.
Traditionally, masala tea is made by brewing tea with spices, sugar, and milk later added.
The everyday tea or chai that we make in India often contains different herbs and spices. There is a wide range of herbs and spices used by different families.
Ingredients
An Indian kitchen isn’t complete without chai masala, the main ingredient in masala chai.
- Black tea powder
- Water
- Milk
- Sugar
- Spices and herbs
You can vary the quantity of spices or omit some of them according to your taste preferences and health constitution.
How to Make Masala Chai
1. Add 1 inch cinnamon, 2 to 3 green cardamoms, 2 cloves and 1-inch peeled ginger to a mortar-pestle. Use true cinnamon and not cassia cinnamon.
2. Crush coarsely with the pestle and set aside. But make sure that the ginger is flattened and crushed well. Alternatively choose to grate the ginger and add the spices whole or crushed.
3. Using a saucepan or small pan with a handle, heat 2 cups of water (500 ml).
4. Let the water come to a boil and add the crushed spices. If required, add a generous pinch of nutmeg powder to the spices. Either mint leaves or lemongrass can also be added at this step.
5. Boil for 3 minutes. Add sugar to taste. I usually add 4 teaspoons of raw sugar. Some people prefer a very sweet tea. So you can increase the amount of sugar according to your taste preferences and also on the type and quality of sugar you are using.
6. Now add 2 teaspoons of Assam tea powder or tea dust. Boil for 1 minute. This boiling time depends on how strong you want your tea. If you prefer a deeper and stronger brew, then simmer for a few more minutes. But this can make the tea have some bitter notes.
Note that if you use tea leaves then instead of boiling you have to steep the tea. For steeping boil the water together with spices. Switch off the heat. Add the tea leaves. Stir to mix and cover with lid.
Steep the tea for 2 to 4 minutes depend upon the strength and concentration of the tea you prefer. Then add hot milk to the steeped tea. Mix, strain and serve.
7. Add ¼ cup of milk (at room temperature or cold). You may add more milk if required.
For a vegan chai, soy or almond milk or cashew milk may also be used. If using soy milk, add to the tea mixture and simmer for 3 minutes.
8. After adding milk boil for 3 minutes. If using chilled milk, boil for 2 to 3 minutes. If using hot milk, then add the milk and switch off the heat.
9. Pour the masala tea through a tea strainer directly into a cup.
10. Serve Masala Chai steaming hot with Indian snacks of your choice such as aloo pakora, veg cutlet, samosa, aloo tikki, onion pakoda, bread pakora, medu vada, biscuits or cookies.
I would appreciate it if you could rate the recipe in the recipe card or leave a comment below if you have made it.
