Homemade Vanilla Cream Masala Chai *Revised

Hello Beautiful People.....
tis the season to treat yourself and others well, yes?

One of the most ubiquitous ways of treating ourselves and others well is via food and drinks, and there are alot of recipes flying around out there in bloglandia and I have one I made up all my by lonesome self :D and I love it, as do others who have had it. Its a new tradition, in my opinion. For me it easily replaces hot cocoa which I could never really get into, though I have made my own version of Chocolat, as in the movie with Juliette Binoche, which is really amazing.
But this Vanilla Cream Masala Chai is something I can look forward to not only for the season, but any time I want because it is something I made up LOLOL
I wrote about this here and promised the recipe.

It is rich with heavy cream. But to make this Vanilla Cream Masala Chai, you need to start off with a good Masala Chai!

So.....here we go.....

Masala Chai is an Eastern Indian tea...."masala" meaning spice mix or blend of spices, and "chai" simply meaning tea. If you are in India as I have been and asked for Chai, you will be asked with polite blank tolerant faces, ''what kind of chai, Mum?"......because they are understanding of how ignorant tourists are about their cultures and they are really so patient. Because here in American when you are served "chai" as in Starbucks etc....you will get something very imitative and poorly made then it will be piled with all kinds of extra chemicals which they have flavored enough to call them names, like "vanilla" and such. Most people who say they love "Chai", sadly haven't had real Chai.

But if you want the genuine experience of Masala Chai, then it is best to make it yourself and it is very very simple enough.

The beauty of making your own Masala Chai is that you can add what specific flavors you love. Usually the blends include cardamon seeds or pods, ginger, cinnamon, black peppercorns, coriander, star anise, cloves, maybe nutmeg, and some kind of black tea which is indeed loaded with caffeine, and you can add it or leave it out. I, for example, love ginger alot,  the peppery flavor of peppercorns and I use alot of those and cloves and cardamon are my personal favorites so when I make it I use them mostly. All of these spices have health benefits, and one of the primary ones is that they are mostly antiviral and excellent to ward off colds and flu.

For my blend, I used:

*~ 1 tsp. cloves
~ 3 sticks cinnamon crushed
*~ 1 tsp. cardamon seed
~ 1 tsp. peppercorns
*~ 2 star anise crushed (below I used nutmeg but I don't have it and I used star anise)
~ 1 tsp ginger powder
~ 1 tbl fresh ginger grated finely (this will dry in the container and be fine)
~ 1 tsp coriander seed
*~ 2 tsp. dried orange peel if you have it.
~ 3 tbs Persian Tea Blend {which is a story of delight unto itself !} or any black tea is optional

Process: put star anise and cinnamon sticks in a ziplock and crush with a hammer. I prefer the sticks because cinnamon powder makes a slime in tea that I don't want, the sticks when crushed don't do that. Then add the crushed star anise, cinnamon and large spices in a spice blender and ground up for 5 -10 seconds. Put that into a bowl and add the ginger powder, fresh ginger and tea. Jar up and label. It will be good for at least a year.

                                  black pepper, cardamon......

                           crushed cinnamon added with fresh ginger......

          fresh ground nutmeg, and powdered ginger and coriander added

               add black tea and mix well

add to a jar and label and get ready to make some delish Vanilla Cream Masala Chai.....

 


  
Now for the Vanilla Cream Masala Chai:

1 large teaspoon of Chai per person.....lets say we are making 2 mugs.....2 people.....

~ Fill your mugs with water for amount, then pour it into a pot and bring to a boil.

~ Add 2 heaping teaspoons of Chai into boiling water then reduce to simmer for 15-20 minutes, the longer the better, these hard spices need alot of time for extraction. This extraction can be done twice with the same spices! It will be slightly weaker the 2nd boil, but it is still a wonderful drink with no big difference.

~ During the last 5 minutes of simmering time, add 1/2 cup organic heavy cream per person, or for 2 people one whole cup of heavy cream to another small pot.

~ Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract to heavy cream.....basically one teaspoon of extract per person

~ Then 4 teaspoons of sugar, or 2 teaspoons per person to cream, or to taste.

~ Do not boil the cream mixture, just bring to hot temperature. Taste for sweetness.

~ Pour the Chai into the French Press and add the cream mixture and mix. You can froth a bit by plunging it several times, but its not necessary. I keep the spices in the bottom to keep the flavors strong and the plunger keeps the spices away from the poured tea, it works beautifully......serve in mug. Enjoy!

I hope you get to enjoy this wonderful luxuriant decadent drink in cold times, and feel the warmth and love that went into making the blend!






         

 

Make Vanilla Cream Masala Chai a new Tradition! Thanks and enjoy !