Thursday, October 19, 2006

Brew yourself a Chai

"Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea."
Henry Fielding, 18th century novelist

With the colder weather coming on, I like to curl up in the afternoon with a cup of spiced chai. In our house the morning is for coffee without question, but tea has it’s place in the afternoon. Noah is napping and I have some catch-up time to myself to call a friend, read the paper or browse the latest Gourmet.

My friendAmber in Guatemala brought me some green cardamom on her last visit to Montreal and this is her recipe for homemade chai. I like to make a big batch and keep it in the fridge for a few days. Then I just heat and foam up a cup whenever I feel the urge, which is fairly often!

INGREDIENTS:

2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into thin rounds

2 cinnamon sticks

1 tsp black peppercorn

10 whole cloves

6 cardamom pods

6 cups cold water

6 bags black tea

2 cups whole milk

½ cup brown sugar


Combine the first five ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Using a mallet or back of a large spoon, lightly crush or bruise the spices. Add 6 cups water; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover pan and simmer gently 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Add tea bags and steep 5 minutes. Discard tea bags. Add milk and sugar. Bring tea just to simmer over high heat, whisking until sugar dissolves. Strain chai into teapot and serve hot.

Enjoy! You deserve it!

(Check out Amber’s blog at www.ambercita.blogspot.com)

2 comments:

April said...

Excellent idea! I'm fighting a cold now so anything warm sounds good!

Amber said...

After toting the bags of cardamom around I find that the smell makes me nauseaous! It must be because I was in the first trimester with this baby, but I hope chai isn't ruined for me forever because of that! I'm glad you're enjoying your chai though:)

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