There is nothing like sipping a hot cup of masala tea in a claypot or earthy cup. It is true that most people don’t like the hassle of making the masala at home, thinking it is too much of hard work. But that is really not true. Masala tea can be easily made at home too. You don’t have to rush out to the corner tea stall for that cup. In fact, the masala can be made and stored for months at a stage.So for an hour of work, you get amazing masala tea for months. And the best part is that this masala tea uses herbs too, which have many healing properties.
So Here Are Some Masala Tea Recipes Along With The Basic Tea Recipe
Basic Tea Recipe (Serves 2)
Take 1 cup of water and milk each. Put it to boil on a pan. Add a tea spoon of your masala choice. When it starts to boil over, then add sugar and tea leaves. Let it simmer on low heat for 2-3 minutes. Then put the heat off and cover the lid for another couple of minutes. This ensures that the flavours of the masala along with tea leaves are retained here. Strain and serve hot in earthen mugs or cups.
Tip- Don’t use larger or leafy teas, stick to smaller grainy teas as they taste better in masala tea.
Gujarati Masala Tea
This one is a classic from the state of Gujurat and is high on taste and spices too. The tea is made using ingredients that are found in most homes. For this recipe you will need 1/4 cup cinnamon, 1/4 cardamom, 1/4 mace, 1/4 cup ginger powder, 1/4 cup black peppercorns, 4-6 cloves, 6 black cardamoms and 1/2 cup of grated nutmeg.
Recipe
First make sure that all of the ingredients are broken into small pieces like cinnamon, cardamom, mace, etc. Then dry roast cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, cloves and black cardamom for about 6-7 minutes. Let them cool. In a blender mix the mace, nutmeg and dry ginger to make a fine powder. Then store this in an air-tight jar. You can keep the same in a fridge too.
Rajasthani Masala Tea
This classic recipe is mostly found in the homes here and it is not as spicy as the Gujarati version. Nevertheless, it is still high on taste and makes use of fennel to sooth the tummy too. For this recipe you will need, 10 green cardamoms, one big cinnamon stick (about 1 1/2 inches), few white peppercorns, 1 spoon of fennel seeds, ground ginger powder and some saffron (which will be added to the tea later)
Recipe
For this recipe, you first need to deseed the cardamom seeds and then crush them with mortar and pestle. Break cinnamon into pieces too. Then blend together all of the ingredients and powder them. Now the twist here is that you add the saffron to the tea along with the masala. Powdered saffron loses flavour and taste and doesn’t really have a nice texture.
South Indian Masala Tea
This is not really a version that originated in Southern India, but is an adaption by those who shifted from the northern parts. But it is one of the easiest masala tea variations that you can make and store in the cupboard. The masala quantity or weight can be increased or decreased, depending on your requirement. You will need 50 grams each of cardamon, black peppercorns, fennel seeds and dry ginger powder.
Recipe
You just need to blend all of your ingredients together in a blender. Then make the tea the classic way and serve hot! If you want then add some saffron to it like the Rajasthan tea.
Bombay Masala Tea
As the name suggests, Bombay masala tea is all about easy ingredients, like the above. It just makes you of two easily available ingredients, which are dry ginger powder and cardamom. You will be amazed at how simple the recipe is but what great flavours you get out of it. For this recipe, you don’t need to do much of prep. It can be made instantly too, but if you want you can mix the two ingredients and store in a box.
Recipe
Take a tea spoon of dried ginger powder and two pods of cardamom. If you are making the tea instantly, then crush the pods well and make sure that you get all of that powder. Add this to the boiling water and milk mixture. Throw in the green cover of the pod to because it has oozes of flavour. Then add the dried ginger to it and let it boil and make the regular tea now. If you are going to store the masala then use larger quantities of both ingredients. About 15-20 pods of cardamom and about 50 grams of dried ginger powder should do. Store in airtight jar.