Masala Chai
Masala Chai literally translates to spiced black tea in Hindi. The different spices get brewed together to flavor the tea. This is hands down the most requested recipe I’ve gotten on Instagram. Especially since I’ve been making it more frequently while staying home the last two months. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy! 🙂
Jump to Masala Chai Recipe
There are so many different masala chai recipes out there, but this is my version! Everyone uses different spices, different milks, different milk to water ratios, and even different boiling methods. The most common spices added to chai are ginger and cardamom. Other spices that are also used are cinnamon, mint, cloves, peppercorn, star anise, and fennel seeds. This is the spice ratio that I love, however feel free to make it your own depending on what spices you have in your pantry!
A few notes about the ingredients: For the chai, I use the Wagh Bhakri tea leaves from my local Indian grocery store (Patel Brothers) or you can purchase it from Amazon. I’ve found that using whole spices and crushing them with a pester and mortal gives a stronger flavor than ground spices. However, if I’m being lazy or have less time, I will use ground spices. I usually always use whole milk, but sometimes oat milk. If you want it less creamy use 1/3 cup of milk. With milk alternatives, sometimes you will need to add more since they are thinner, and they won’t boil over like normal milk. For sweetener, I use a few drops of liquid stevia, but sugar, honey, or agave would also be delicious!
Masala Chai
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp chai tea leaves
- 3 cardamom pods
- 3 inch cinnamon stick
- 1 inch ginger
- 1/4 star anise pod
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1-2 clove
- 1-2 peppercorn
- handful of fresh or dried mint leaves
- ½ cup milk
Instructions
- Bring the water to a simmer in a pot over medium heat.
- While the water is simmering, crush the cardamom pods, cinnamon, star anise, fennel seeds, cloves, and peppercorn in a pester and mortal and then add them to the pot.
- Using a microplane grate the ginger over the pot and throw in the mint leaves.
- When the water comes to a boil, add the tea leaves and sweetener of choice.
- Boil for about a minute, and then add the milk.
- Once the chai comes to a boil, bring the heat down to low. Avoid overflowing the chai.
- Bring the chain to a boil again, and immediately turn the heat down to low.
- Bring the chai to a boil a third time and turn the heat off.
- Use a strainer when pouring into a mug.
- Enjoy!
If you make my Masala Chai, be sure to tag me on Instagram @chandskitchen or Facebook Chand’s Kitchen 🙂 I would love to see your creations!
