Masala chai

• 15 minutes
• Prep 5 minutes
• Cook 10 minutes
• Serves 4

Our own recipe. The photograph is AI-generated.

• Vegetarian
• Gluten free

Ingredients

• 6 green cardamom pods
• 3 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• A quarter teaspoon black peppercorns
• 15g fresh ginger (a piece about 3cm long), sliced
• 4 teaspoons loose Assam tea, or 4 strong black tea bags
• 400ml whole milk
• 4 teaspoons granulated sugar, or to taste

Let's cook

1. Lightly crush the cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon and peppercorns in a pestle and mortar, or with the bottom of a mug on a board. You want them cracked open, not powdered.
2. Put 500ml water in a saucepan with the crushed spices and the ginger. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 5 minutes so the water takes on the flavour of the spices.
3. Add the tea and simmer for 2 minutes. The liquid turns dark brown.
4. Pour in the milk and add the sugar. Bring it back up until it starts to rise in the pan, then turn the heat down and simmer for 2 minutes. Watch it closely: milk boils over fast.
5. Pour through a fine sieve into a warm teapot or straight into cups. Taste and add more sugar if you like it sweeter.

Tips

• Pouring the chai from a little height into the cup makes a light froth on top, the way chai sellers do it.
• For a stronger chai, let it simmer for another minute after the milk goes in.

Swaps

• Vegan: use oat milk (choose a gluten free oat milk to keep it gluten free). It is then dairy free and vegan.
• No caffeine: use decaffeinated tea bags.

Tags

• chai
• tea
• spiced
• drink

In Autumn comfort.

Contains: Milk .

Contains milk, from the whole milk. With the oat milk swap, check the carton for gluten, as some oat milks are not gluten free.

Check every packet for allergens.