Masala chai

Oxidized tea
Post Reply
polezaivsani
Posts: 191
Joined: Sun Oct 06, 2019 4:43 pm
Location: Kaliningrad, RU

Sat Nov 19, 2022 5:40 pm

Let's settle a cozy masala chai venue here to share fine details of recipes and anything related.

My recipe so far is: empty out 10 green cardamom pods into a pan, though I toss the shells in there too, chop 3cm of ginger root, crush 2 cloves and 10 white peppercorns, shave 2 teaspoons full of nutmeg and around 3 tablespoons of tea leaves; add a little water (about a cup) to cover the ingredients and bring it all to a boil; pour in a litre of whole milk and bring to boil once again and take off the hob; after it cools a bit, add a tablespoon or two of honey.

I've been making it occasionally during the colder seasons and more so now as way of putting the teas I'm falling out of love with to a good use. This time I tried it with liu an, liu bao, wet- and dry-stored puer, and qing zhuan. No hong cha mind you for rarely have that on hand. Liu bao felt mostly out of place in the end while qing zhuan made the best drink thus far with it's rich flavors being a welcome addition to the palette and a coherent flavor in the cup.

I tried adding cinnamon but felt like it was somewhat distracting. The choice of pepper feels important: I've tried black, white, and allspice thus far without being satisfied with any of them.

Occasionally I would leave it standing overnight so that more flavor gets drawn out of spices and then wake up to a pot of tasty and hearty drink. What does your routine look like? Anything you found to be unfit or work particularly good?
User avatar
Baisao
Posts: 1396
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2017 5:17 pm
Location: ATX

Mon Jan 30, 2023 2:02 am

polezaivsani wrote:
Sat Nov 19, 2022 5:40 pm
I tried adding cinnamon but felt like it was somewhat distracting. The choice of pepper feels important: I've tried black, white, and allspice thus far without being satisfied with any of them.
This beverage isn’t for me but I have cooked enough Indian food to be included in intimate food discussions with my Indian teammates and a go-to person for helping a new teammate find items locally.

Anyway, I think grains of paradise would be a welcome addition to masala chai. It would help fill in the structure between the cardamom and clove. It has a minty quality that may or may not be something you like but the sweet flavor would be delicious. I’ve tasted it in mithai desserts.

Allspice is not a pepper or anything like a pepper. I use it in all sorts of things and especially like to use it when both clove and cinnamon are used as it perfectly fills in the structure between the two.

Here are a couple of suggestions if black pepper is not what you like:

* long pepper (Piper longum) tastes like black pepper but has an additional floral aspect to it. It is also hot if ground in a mortar so you can still get the pungent Chettinadi aspect black pepper from it.

* dried and ground bird’s eye chilies (cobanero, pequine, tepin) are nice because they add a tingly/prickly sting without adding too much other flavor or flooding the entire beverage with capsaicin. I use a dusting of these in my hot chocolate and like the distinct points of heat I get as I drink it.
User avatar
Patjulian80
Posts: 27
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2022 4:38 am
Location: Switzerland
Contact:

Mon Feb 06, 2023 5:12 pm

Masala chai is traditionally sweetened with jaggery—dried sugar cane juice—it retains all the minerals etc. Therefore imparting a rich layer of flavour to your chai. Assam is my tea of choice. Are you on Instagram? I have a few posts about masala chai https://www.instagram.com/not_4_all_the_tea_in_china/
polezaivsani wrote:
Sat Nov 19, 2022 5:40 pm
Let's settle a cozy masala chai venue here to share fine details of recipes and anything related.

My recipe so far is: empty out 10 green cardamom pods into a pan, though I toss the shells in there too, chop 3cm of ginger root, crush 2 cloves and 10 white peppercorns, shave 2 teaspoons full of nutmeg and around 3 tablespoons of tea leaves; add a little water (about a cup) to cover the ingredients and bring it all to a boil; pour in a litre of whole milk and bring to boil once again and take off the hob; after it cools a bit, add a tablespoon or two of honey.

I've been making it occasionally during the colder seasons and more so now as way of putting the teas I'm falling out of love with to a good use. This time I tried it with liu an, liu bao, wet- and dry-stored puer, and qing zhuan. No hong cha mind you for rarely have that on hand. Liu bao felt mostly out of place in the end while qing zhuan made the best drink thus far with it's rich flavors being a welcome addition to the palette and a coherent flavor in the cup.

I tried adding cinnamon but felt like it was somewhat distracting. The choice of pepper feels important: I've tried black, white, and allspice thus far without being satisfied with any of them.

Occasionally I would leave it standing overnight so that more flavor gets drawn out of spices and then wake up to a pot of tasty and hearty drink. What does your routine look like? Anything you found to be unfit or work particularly good?
Last edited by Patjulian80 on Tue Feb 21, 2023 6:45 pm, edited 2 times in total.
polezaivsani
Posts: 191
Joined: Sun Oct 06, 2019 4:43 pm
Location: Kaliningrad, RU

Tue Feb 07, 2023 1:27 pm

Thank you for the tip, @Patjulian80! I'm trying it today with muscovado, the closest thing to jaggery I could find.

I've been banned from most all major social sites for smuggling captives out of the closed silos on numerous occasions. I'd appreciate should you share interesting bits here next time as well. We'll set up a small revolutionary brewers society here :).

I have tried couple peppers mentioned by @Baisao and am enamored by long pepper, it's plenty pungent, seem to evolve into floral scents later on, and produces a nice balanced tingling. I've tried Peri-Peri, a variety similar (I suppose) to Bird's eyes, that has it's prickling confined to a small part of the palate resulting in a jarring picture. I also restocked on Star anise and feel bad for omitting it originally, it's a terrific ingredient.

My addendum to the first recipe becomes:
- 3 allspice berries
- 1–2 catkins of Long Pepper
- 1 Star anise fruit
- (pending) Jaggery or muscovado instead of honey

p.s. Spice stockist told that they would not be able to restock Paradise seeds any more. Checks out for a bloody Russia.
Post Reply