Drink · South Asian
Masala Chai
Whole spices simmered in milk and tea. Cloves lead, cinnamon rounds, ginger lifts.
Chai made with whole spices tastes nothing like chai made with a powdered blend. The spices go in whole so they release slowly and stay balanced, and the clove is deliberately restrained — two buds for a whole pot, not a handful.
Ingredients
- 4 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
- 2 whole cloves
- 1 Ceylon cinnamon quill, about 8 cm
- 2 cm fresh ginger, sliced
- 6 black peppercorns
- 500 ml water
- 300 ml whole milk
- 3 tsp strong black tea leaves (Assam or Ceylon)
- Sugar or jaggery, to taste
Method
- Lightly crush the cardamom, peppercorns and cinnamon quill with the flat of a knife or a pestle. You want them cracked, not ground.
- Put the crushed spices, cloves and ginger into the water and bring to the boil. Reduce and simmer 8 minutes so the water takes on the spice.
- Add the tea leaves and simmer a further 2 minutes.
- Pour in the milk and bring back to just below the boil. Watch it — chai climbs the pan without warning.
- Simmer 2 to 3 minutes more, sweeten to taste, then strain into cups through a fine sieve.
Tip. Two cloves is the right number for four cups. Three is noticeable. Four and it will taste medicinal — clove is the spice that runs away with a pot of chai.
More in the recipe collection, or read about the spices themselves.
All recipes