Every afternoon, a bunch of my Indian colleagues will get together and brew a pot to share with whoever wants it. They use a coffee pot, microwave and a bunch of ingredients that they've got stowed away in a cabinet in the lunch room. Their chai is a thick and heady with spices including fresh ginger root. Inspired, I decided to make some of my own at home.
I make masala chai concentrate which is nice because each member of the family can sweeten their chai to their taste.
Iced Quasi-Masala Chai Concentrate
- 4 bags of black tea
You can use the equivalent amount of loose-leaf if you have it - fresh ginger root, 1" knob, sliced into 1/4" slices
- 1 T peppercorns, whole
- 1 T cloves, whole
- 1 T allspice, whole
- 1 star anise
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
To serve (12 oz glass)
Pour 6 oz of the brewed chai into the serving glass. Add 6oz of milk (whatever kind you like) and stir. Sweeten to taste, adding ice if desired.
NOTES:
Spices in your local megamart (AB saying) baking and spices aisle are usually ridiculously expensive. $5 for a few measly cinnamon sticks? In the long run, it may be cheaper than getting $3+ chai lattes at Starbucks but is still hardly truly economical.
When buying spices for chai, I opt for ethnic markets or at least the ethnic aisle. I live in an area with a lot of ethnic and in particular Indian markets so I've got plenty to choose from. When in a megamart, though, I steer the cart towards the ethnic aisle where there are usually spices in small cellophane packets for less than a $1.50. Still not as great as if I were to get them from the Indian market but a lot better priced than if I bought them in the little glass jars.
1 comment:
This is a seriously old post and I'm tired of seeing it on my own front page. Gimme a new entry! Make some baby food or something! :)
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