Chai / Tea Masala

Ingredients

• Cinnamon stick – 1 whole stick
• Big Cardamom (Badi Elaichi) – 3
• Small Cardamom (Choti Elaichi) – 10-12
• Cloves (Lavang/Laung) – 3-4
• Dried Ginger (Saunth / Soonth) – 1 piece or alternatively you can use the ginger powder about 1 and a half tablespoon.
• Bishop’s weed (Ajwain) – a pinch
• Black peppercorns – 5-6
• Fennel seeds(Saunf) – 1 tablespoon

Direction:

1. Dry roast all the ingredients for 7-8 minutes until you can get a faint aroma of the spices. 
2. Let it cool completely. 
3. Once it is cool run it in the dry jar of a mixer/blender and grind into a fine powder. 
4. Cool completely and store in an air-tight container. Use the masala as and when required to make tea. 

Preparing Indian Masala Tea

To make 2 cups of Masala tea. 

Boil 2 cups of water in a pan. 

Add sugar, Tea leaves and the powdered masala and let it come to a boil. 

Once it starts boiling, add some milk and let it boil for a couple of minutes. Strain and serve piping hot.