Life and my love for good food: Masala Chai

I am starting my blog with my favorite beverage .. Masala Chai. This morning kick starter and afternoon-slump fixer is near and dear to my heart. At an age when we were allowed to drink it, my mother made us chai every morning. Her magic touch added extra sweetness to this already delicious beverage. I wasn't very good at making chai until about two years ago, when a close family friend shared her version of it. Every family has their own version of chai and I cannot say that one is better than the other.

I must admit I have cheated here a little bit, by purchasing a pre-made chai spice blend (which in my defense, a lot of people do). So, let me stop rambling away and share with you one of my recipes for Masala Chai.

Here is the ingredient list (for one cup of chai):

1/2 cup milk (I used 2% organic)
1/2 cup water
1 heaping tablespoon loose black Indian tea leaves
1 teaspoon chai masala
Sweetner to taste ( I used organic honey instead of sugar )
A strainer

Method:

1) Add to a saucepan, the milk and water.

Those are only bubbles from adding the liquids (the mixture hasn't started boiling yet). Turn up the heat to medium.

2) Add the chai masala into the liquid mixture.

And then, this is what it looks like:

3) Bring the blend to a boil (on medium heat itself). Be patient here, but do watch the saucepan. Spilt milk is obviously a headache to clean :)

4)Once the mixture comes to a boil, add the tea leaves. This is what the brand I used looks like.

5) Let the mixture come to a rapid boil. At this stage, you might want to turn the heat high and medium-low in intervals. This ensures the even distribution of the tea leaves in the liquid (do I sound like a science nut? haha). So, this is what it should look like. You can occasionally stir the mixture (Do NOT take your eyes off the chai).