Masala Chai
I like spiced milk tea, or Masala Chai. Because coffee is not always a friend of mine, chai is a good option for me at a cafe although meeting a good chai is rare. Usually too sweet, strangely spiced, watery, and etc. I have a wide range of spice, tea leaves and milk. And there are a lot of recipes of chai. Why hadn't I thought of making Masala Chai until now? I adapted a recipe by a writer for a Japanese news site who learned how to make Masala Chai from an Indian friend. Spices were fresh ginger, cardamons, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, and black peppers. I used Assam tea leaves, low-fat milk and Splenda. The recipe was simple but required me to keep watching the pan. Heat water and spice to boil, simmer for 3 minutes, add Splenda, heat up to boil again, add milk, wait to boil again, simmer for 3 minutes, and boil again. Total about 10 minutes. The result was pretty good! J enjoyed my homemade chai very much and asked me to make more. At the second time, I added too much ginger. I learned about 1 teaspoon of grated fresh ginger was our taste. At the third time, we added a star anise, which was nice, too. We like a strong cardamon favor, so at least 5 cardamons should be used. Maybe a little more cinnamon next time. Masala Chai is now officially on our drink menu.
