This chai is the perfect hot drink for being inside on a cold, rainy day. It is packed with powerful spices which make it delicious and warming and bring you a cupful of health-boosting properties.
To name but a few:
- Ginger has been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties and aids digestion
- Cardamon great for heart and teeth health and to fight infections
- Cloves aid digestion and has antibacterial properties and helps boost the immune system
- Black pepper is good for digestion and for cleansing the respiratory system
- Cinnamon is a great anti-oxidant and immunity-boosting spice, and it also helps digestion
RECIPE
Type: Vegetarian (can be made Vegan by using plant-based milk)
Approx. Preparation time: 5 mins
Approx. Cooking time: 10 mins
Serves: 2
Ingredients
- Three teaspoons black tea (or three sachets of good quality English breakfast)
- A small piece of Fresh Ginger
- Three green cardamoms, crushed
- Two black peppercorns
- A cinnamon stick, crushed
- A clove
- Three cups water
- One cup cold milk (use plant-based milk to make this vegan)
- Sugar, to taste (start with a tablespoon and take it from there) – you can also use honey instead of sugar if you like
Preparation steps
- In a mortar, crush the green cardamoms, black pepper, clove and cinnamon – leave the spices aside in a bowl
- Wash the ginger well, and crush it in the mortar
Cooking steps
- Put the water in a pan on high heat
- Add the crushed spices and the ginger bits and juice to the water
- Leave the water to heat for 3 minutes
- Add the tea
- Bring the water to the boil and leave it boiling for a couple of minutes
- Pour the milk in the pan – because the milk is cold, this will bring the temperature of the pan down
- Add the sugar (if you are using honey you should add the honey to the cup at the time of serving instead)
- Bring to the boil again – keep a watchful eye on it as its contents will have a propensity to boil over if left unattended!
- Once the chai is boiling, lower the heat and leave to simmer for a couple of minutes
- Pour the chai through a sieve before serving and discard all the bits
- Serve hot!