While dining at an Asian-Indian restaurant recently I tried Indian tea. It was soooo good. But it was served with milk and sugar already in it. Then another time I was out with my son and he ordered Chai, I had no clue what that was. So I tasted it, lo and behold, Indian tea. Now that I knew a name, Chai, I could look for a recipe. I came up with several, modified one slightly, and YUMMY! What a treat, right at home, very low carb and full of wonderful flavors.
MASALA CHAI
Place following in a large saucepan:
1T fennel or anise seed
6 green cardamom pods
12 cloves
1 cinnamon stick (3")
about 1/4" very thinly sliced ginger root
1/4 t black peppercorns
*
7 C cold water
Boil for 5 minutes, then let steep for an additional 10 minutes.
Add:
2T Darjeeling tea
Return to boil, then simmer 5 minutes.
Strain and serve with brown sugar, honey, milk
Low carb version: Sweet-N-Low Brown sugar, heavy cream.
* every cook makes chai somewhat different, adjust to taste. other spices used might include nutmeg, bay leaf, vanilla bean, dried ginger, allspice. the recipe above, using fennel seed, is what I used on my first, and I must say, yummy, attempt. ENJOY!