Masala chai recipe | Indian Milk Tea Recipe | How to make Indian chai at home | Recipe to make Indian milk tea | Indian tea recipe with step by step instructions

Masala chai Recipe | Indian milk tea also known as Masala chai is a very famous Indian beverage which is  made by brewing black tea leaves with fragrant spices, sugar and milk.

Many Indian homes begin their morning routine sipping this tea along with some whole wheat oats biscuit or Homemade 5 ingredient vegan cookies.

The chai tastes best with Crispy masala puri.

In this today’s post you will find the method with tips and tricks to make a perfect cup of tea at home.

Here are some tea recipes with various properties and benefits you would want to have a look –

Kashmiri chai/Noon chai

Easy lemon ice tea

Hibiscus tea/Gudhal ki chai

Pomegranate peel tea

Onion peel tea recipe

About Masala chai recipe

Here masala translates to spices and chai is milk tea. This very famous Indian beverage is just an excuse to sit together, have a chit chat while sipping on it and to soothes your frayed nerves.

A lot of people here in India love to sip on msala chai all round the year, any time of the day or with breakfast and evening snacks.

There are many variations to make tea. Some like it with either lemongrass, mint or Tulsi (holy basil leaves). But my family prerfers to have it with only ginger many times or without it.

We love to serve our tea with Vegan potato sandwich, Sindhi koki, Methi thepala/Fenugreek flatbread or Spinach corn sandwich .

How to make Masala chai recipe | Indian milk tea?

Everyone has their favourite recipe to make tea here in India. Some like it with less water, more milk ratio and light in colour or vice versa. However, we love less of milk and strong colour of tea.

So this is an absolutely a personal choice to decide ratio of water, milk, sweetner and tea brand, as this decides the flavour, strength and taste of the tea.

2 ways to make Masala chai

Basically the tea is made in 2 ways. The first one is to boil the water along with sugar, spices like cardamom, cloves and cinnamon. Add grated ginger and black tea leaves.

Once boiled add the milk and simmer till you achieve the required colour and flavour.

Another method is boil the milk along with water and sugar first. Then add the spices mentioned above. Add the ginger and tea leaves, simmer to achieve the required colour and flavour.

Ingredients required to make tea

Milk –

You may use any milk like fresh, toned or full fat. All of them work well for making tea.

Black Tea leaves –

It depends purely upon your choice to go for brand of tea you like. We use Red label tea.

Spices

I would again say that from all of the spices mentioned like cloves, cardamom, whole pepper corns, cinnamon, fennel seeds and ginger, you may choose according to your liking.

Increase or decrease the amount of apices as per your liking.

Sweetner –

Traditionally the jaggery is used to sweeten the chai, but we love ours with sugar or sometimes without it. Please feel free to use the sweetner according to your liking.

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Masala chai recipe | Indian Milk Tea Recipe

Masala chai Recipe | Indian milk tea also known as Masala chai is a very famous Indian beverage which is  made by brewing tea leaves with fragrant spices, sugar and milk.

Prep Time2 minutes mins

Cook Time8 minutes mins

Course: Beverages & Drinks

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: Chai, indian milk tea recipe, masala chai, masala tea recipe

Servings: 2

Author: Lata Lala

Ingredients

• 1½ cups water
• 1/2 cup full fat milk
• 3-4 teaspoon tea powder
• 2 teaspoons sugar or as needed
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger grated
• 1 cardamom
• 1 clove
• 1 Cinnamon piece
• 1 peppercorn

Instructions

• Heat 1+1/2 cups of water in a saucepan.
• To this add grated ginger and whole spices. Let it come to a rolling boil.
• Lower the flame, add 1+1/2 spoon tea leaves and 2 tea spoons of sugar.
• Let the decoction simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Now add 1/2 cup milk. Let it boil on medium heat so that colour turns dark.
• Taste the test and if you feel more milk is required then add some and let it simmer for a while so that it doesn't have the milk flavour.
• Lastly, strain/sieve the ready tea in cups and serve immediately.

Notes

1. For making masala chai/tea here I have used whole spices. Some like it to use in powder form. So it's completely your choice to use the former or later.

2. For making powder of spices just grind them and store in an Air tight container.

3. Summers are harsh in India so adding masala is not preferred by us. We just add ginger sometimes.

4. The ratio of water and milk is very crucial to make tea. If you put too much of water and less milk it would taste watery. Or if the milk is more it would have milk flavour.

So this is trial and error method which you can master in few times.

5. The tea would taste bitter if you add too much of tea leaves and brew it for long time. Make sure to add milk at the right time mentioned in the recipe above.

6. Tea curdles if you add ginger and not bring to boil before adding the milk. So make sure to boil the concoction well.

Step by step instructions and pictorial presentation to make Masala Chai Recipe | Indian Milk Tea Recipe

Heat 1+1/2 cups of water in a saucepan.

To this add grated ginger and whole spices. Let it come to a rolling boil.

Lower the flame, add 1+1/2 spoon tea leaves and 2 tea spoons of sugar.

Let the decoction simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Now add 1/2 cup milk. Let it boil on medium heat so that colour turns dark.

Taste the test and if you feel more milk is required then add some and let it simmer for a while so that it doesn’t have the milk flavour.

Lastly, strain/sieve the ready tea in cups and serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

1. For making masala chai/tea here I have used whole spices. Some like it to use in powder form. So it’s completely your choice to use the former or later.

2. For making powder of spices just grind them and store in an Air tight container.

3. Summers are harsh in India so adding masala is not preferred by us. We just add ginger sometimes.

4. The ratio of water and milk is very crucial to make tea. If you put too much of water and less milk it would taste watery. Or if the milk is more it would have milk flavour.

So this is trial and error method which you can master in few times.

5. The tea would taste bitter if you add too much of tea leaves and brew it for long time. Make sure to add milk at the right time mentioned in the recipe above.

6. Tea curdles if you add ginger and not bring to boil before adding the milk. So make sure to boil the concoction well.

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