Masala Chai

Chai is hindi for tea, and masala chai refers to a spicy tea, often flavoured with ginger or cardamom. It's a really delicious warming drink, and on the streets of India it's served in small glasses, very sweet and very hot! To me, there's nothing like street chai, and it always seems so much tastier than the kind you get in hotels or restaurants in India.

When I'm at home, I most often make chai in a rather unorthodox way, using rooibos (also known as redbush) tea instead of black. Rooibos is a naturally caffeine free herbal tea from South Africa that is brewed and served in a similar way to black tea. I do like proper chai, but I try not to drink black tea too often because of its caffeine content. You can of course use black or red tea in the recipe in the book, as you desire. The amount of sweetener you add is also up to you - I feel that masala chai should be fairly sweet to be authentic, but that's not to everyone's taste. On a similar note, I think whole milk gives the best flavour, but feel free to use lower fat or soy milk if you prefer.


I use several spices in masala chai, but I think that the ginger is the most important. I take a big chunk of ginger and bash it with a rolling pin to break it up and release its flavour.


Everything goes in the pan to heat up. Unlike the English way of making tea, chai is brewed by boiling it over heat. This means that, when it's made with black tea, it is higher in caffeine than ordinary tea. This time I used rooibos tea bags, but you can also use loose tea and this is more normal.

The chai is done when it reaches your desired colour/ strength. Rooibos chai goes a different colour from ordinary chai - redder and slightly paler, I think. Since it contains a fair amount of milk, sugar and spices, I like to brew chai quite strong. This also gives the spices more time to infuse.


And here's the result - three gloriously hot glasses of deliciously spicy chai. It's perfect served hot, but also rather tasty when chilled and served as ice tea.

Although this sweet, milky drink may not seem that healthy, as long as you are not too fast and loose with the sugar, you can consider it a perfectly nourishing drink. The warming spices in it and the fact that the milk is boiled make the dairy much easier to digest and less heavy and mucus forming. Kapha body types can also use goats milk for even better results. Overall, it's a warming drink that tantalises the senses and sharpens the mind.

If you like the look of this recipe, please buy my book, Mango Soup, which contains the full version of this recipe and many more: http://www.authorhouse.co.uk/Bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=49169