Warm Welcome with the Perfect Cup of Chai

Welcome to my first post. My name is Reena and have been obsessed with vegetarian food and cooking for as long as I can remember. I grew up with one older sister who was baking cakes in the oven that always overflowed and made my mom scream, and another older sister who had a deeper interest on the savoury side of things. Good food runs in my family and so here I am finally expressing my bottled up thoughts online. I hope you enjoy it.

I wanted my first post to be about something that is very near and dear to my heart: chai. It wakes me up in the morning, and keeps my insides warm to fall asleep in the evening. Some of you may think you know good chai because you had it at Starbucks - well I am sorry to say that the brown sludge that they mix into a cup of steamed milk will never top a homemade cup of chai. The best part about it is that this warm, aromatic, smooth drink is so easy to make. Probably the best cup of chai I ever had was off the streets in Mumbai. For 4 rupees, you get this mini espresso shot of milky, sweet, thick, strong chai that has been boiling endlessly to allow all of the spices, tea and milk to perfectly meld with one another. It's fabulous.

For my fellow veganites, this can be made with soy milk instead of milk, but it won't be the same. If you prefer this substitution, try to pick a thicker soy milk like So Good brand - DO NOT USE flavored soy milk, or reduced fat soy milks, you will not get the right consistency or taste.

What you will need to make 2 mugs of chai:

2 full mugs of water
2 tsp Indian black loose tea or 1 Tetley orange pekoe tea bag
2 pods of cardamom, with seeds removed from pods
1 stick of cinnamon, broken in half
3 slices of ginger (no need to peel), about 1/4 inch thick
1/2 mug of either 2% or homo milk (DO NOT USE 1% or skim)
sugar to your taste

Bring the water to a boil in a medium heavy pot, then add the tea, cinnamon and ginger slices.
Bring the heat down to medium.
In a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle, grind/crush the cardamom seeds and add that to your pot of chai.
Let this boil on medium for about 2 minutes.
Bring the heat up to high and add the milk. Watch this VERY carefully, because the milk will quickly overflow if you let it boil. Also, your chai solution should be a nice almond colored liquid. If it is darker than this, add a little more milk. Once it starts to boil, bring it down to medium heat and let this boil for another 2 minutes.

Voila! Strain your homemade chai into two mugs and add sugar to your taste.