Tea masala

Masala is a common name for a variety of spice mixtures. Respectively, tea masala - this tea, which includes spices, spices and herbs. Like many other Indian dishes, Masala tea does not have a fixed cooking recipe. The main thing is that the composition of the drink should include four ingredients: tea, sweetener, milk and spices.

Tea can be used by anyone, but usually Black tea is used as a basis: he has a more intense taste that does notcan suppress spices and sweetener. As a sweetener use sugar (white, brown or palm) or honey. It not only makes the drink sweet, but also helps to reveal the aroma of some spices. Milk can be used whole or condensed, in the second case, the sweetener should not be used, because milk performs a dual function.

Finally, let's move on to the most important ingredient, thanks to which tea masala and got its name - to a mixture of spices. In the tea masala put the so-called "warm" spices, to eventually get a warm and invigorating drink. In most cases, put cardamom, ginger,cinnamon, fennel seeds, cloves and black pepper. Traditionally the dominant spice is cardamom, carnation complements it, and black pepper and ginger (fresh or ground) add spicy tea. You can also add masala nutmeg, licorice root, almonds, saffron, pink petals to tea.

How to make tea masala? As we have already said, there is no single recipethere is, so you can show imagination. We offer you an exemplary masala tea recipe so that you know what to start from. Start with cooking masala - a mixture of spices. You can take the following spices:

• 
  100 grams of ginger powder
• 
  100 g black pepper
• 
  40 g of cinnamon powder
• 
  35 g of green cardamom seeds
• 
  25 g of carnation buds
• 
  half a nutmeg

Mix all spices and grind in an electric coffee grinder until you get a homogeneous mixture. For each cup of tea you will need a small amount of a mixture of masala, so you can store it in sealed containers and use as needed.

To make one cup of tea Masala you will need the following ingredients:

• 
  0.5 tbsp. water
• 
  0.5 tbsp. milk
• 
  1.5 tsp. Sahara
• 
  3/4 tsp. black tea
• 
  pinch of masala

Mix the water with milk and bring to a boil. Add sugar, tea and spices, boil for 5-10 minutes until tea turns dark. The longer you boil, the stronger the tea will be. Pour the tea masala on the cups and can serve to the table.

Of course, this is only a general scheme. You can change the proportions of the ingredients and the way of cooking to your liking. For example, if you want tea to have a "milky" taste, you can take two parts of milk per one part of water. And to make the spicy flavor more intense, do not spill the tea immediately after turning off the fire. Instead, cover the dishes with the tea lid and let it brew for about five minutes.

To tea masala cooked faster, you need to boil water and milk separately. Then add tea and spices to boiling water, boil until the desired strength is reached and only then add milk. This allows you to reduce the time of preparation of tea, preserving its flavor. In restaurants, they often prepare tea masala in this way, in order to speed up customer service.

Indian tea masala - delicious and healthy warming drink. It's pretty simple to cook at home, and the lack of a clear recipe leaves a lot of room for your imagination.