| source | http://www.grouprecipes.com/549/masala-chai.html |
| cookTime | 5 |
| prepTime | 10 |
Chai tea latte
Masala chai mix
| 3 | black cardamom pods' seeds |
| 6 | green cardamom pods' seeds |
| 6 | peppercorns (black or white) |
| 2 tsp | fennel seeds |
| 1 tsp | ginger powder |
| 3 | cloves |
| 2 tsp | cinnamon powder |
| 1 tsp | nutmeg |
| 1/2 tsp | allspice |
| 7 tsp or 7 bags | black tea (preferably Assam or Darjeeling) |
| a dash | cayenne |
2 mugs of chai
| 300 mL | cold water |
| 300 mL | milk |
| 3 tsp | masala chai mix |
| 1/2 tsp | vanilla extract |
| sugar or equivalent (to taste) (* see below) |
Directions
- Grind the spices (exclude the tea leaves) for the masala chai mix in a grinder. If using a coffee grinder, clean immediately. Grinding white rice will help clean a grinder. If you don’t possess a grinder, either use powdered equivalents, or take a mortar and pestle to the non-ground ingredients.
- Add tea leaves. Mix, and store in an airtight container.
- To make the tea: add sweetener, water, and 100 mL milk to a saucepan (if not steaming/frothing the milk, add all 300 mL to the saucepan). Bring to a boil.
- Lower temperature to a gentle simmer once liquid starts boiling. Add vanilla and chai mix, and simmer for 3 minutes.
- (optional) While tea is simmering, steam or froth the remaining 200 mL of milk.
- Strain mixture into two mugs. If you’ve steamed/frothed milk, pour it evenly over-top both mugs.
- Enjoy
Notes
- Sucralose (“Splenda”), honey, and sugar (white, golden, brown, palm, or coconut sugar, whatever suits you) will work as sweeteners. Add in more if you like your chai sweeter. I’ve seen recipes ranging anywhere from 1 tsp to 6 tbsp of sugar per cup; in my opinion 6 tbsp is way too much (it’s also 294 calories if you’re using white sugar, never mind the blood sugar spike!), but individual tastes will vary.
From my testing, stevia does not work well as a sweetener in this recipe, while sucralose’s odd fruity taste goes along nicely with the spices.
If not steaming the milk, apparently (according to http://yummysupper.blogspot.com/2011/02/masala-chai-latte.html ) you can get a bit of a froth by transferring the liquid between two vessels several times through a fine mesh strainer. Indian masala chai is typically not made with steamed milk.
I may yet modify this recipe. As it stands, it’s heavily modified from the “source”. I’ve toned down the cloves and added in nutmeg, vanilla, and a little allspice to attempt to recreate a Western chai tea latte taste. It’s probably milder and sweeter than an “authentic” masala chai, but it still has a pretty reasonable flavour complexity. It’s also nowhere near as bland and sweet as many department store “chai tea” mixes.