Dish · indian
Masala Chai
Black tea boiled with milk, ginger, cardamom, and sugar until the liquid turns deep amber and strongly spiced. Stronger and sweeter than plain milk tea, drunk throughout the day.
Where it comes from
Tea itself arrived in India through British colonial plantations, and the spiced, milky version developed as vendors and households adapted it with spices already common in Indian cooking. It became a fixture of railway platforms and street stalls.
What cooks argue about
Cooks argue over boiling the tea leaves and milk together, which extracts more tannin and color but risks bitterness, against steeping the tea first and adding milk after, gentler but lighter in the end.
Versions
Nobody has published a masala chai here yet. When somebody cooks one from a video and publishes it, their version appears in this list, with a link back to the original.
What goes in it
Each one opens everything else made with it.
ginger
cardamom green