Masala Tchai

As you know, I just spent two weeks travelling in India. The landscapes were absolutely beautiful and I had a lot of fun, but my favorite part was probably the food, so you can expect to see one or two recipes of Indian cuisine on here in the weeks to come. Before even going to India, I really loved a certain preparation of tea called "Masala tchai". 'Masala' means 'blending' (of spices), and 'tchai' means 'milk'. Indian people drink this anytime of the day, at breakfast, after lunch, after their dinner or even in the middle of the afternoon, at tea time. Being over there, I got to taste the "real" tchai and loved it even more. During my stay in Rajasthan, I had the opportunity to follow a cooking class and we learned how to make this special tea. So here you go, it might not be very clear and the spices might not be the easiest to find, but I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Ingredients: (for 10 people)

4 cups of water

4 cups of milk

5 teaspoons of ginger (crushed, with its skin)

5 teaspoons of Assam tea

5 teaspoons of sugar

2 pinches of black pepper (really not too much!)

2 cloves

3 crushed pods of cardamom

Boil the water in a small pan. After approximately 2 minutes, put the ginger in the water, even if it is not boiling yet. Add the tea, then the milk, then the sugar. Then add the pepper and the cloves.

Add the cardamom (rinse the recipient out with the rest of it). Blend it all.

Pour the tchai in a teapot through a strainer, then put the spices left in the rest of the tea in the pan for them to continue to give taste.

According to what intensity we would like to give to the tea, we mix for more or less time. The entire preparation should last about 10-15 minutes.