🌨Winter or Summer ☀️Chai

Cooking time 30 minutes

Serves 5-6 cups of tea (500 ml) (depends on the size of your cuppa)

Keep Chai in Fridge up to 3 days max.

❤️A Vegan Friendly Recipe

❤️Special Thank you to Jaz Ayling who taught me her Chai Recipe when I was a teenager.

It is thanks to her that this recipe has evolved into what you read today!

🌈Place following ingredients in a pan on high heat🌈

10 Cloves

2 Cinnamon sticks

10 Cardamon Seeds

A pinch of grated Nut Meg ( a little goes a long way)

3 Anis Stars

10 Fennel seeds

Roast them to release their aromas for 3 minutes.

(I press down on them with a spoon or squeeze or break them with my hands before adding them to the pan.

If you have a mortar you can crush the above spices with it and then add it to your pan to roast but only roast your crushed spices for 1 minute, powder burns fast on high heat!)

🌈You can now add your....

2 lady or earl grey tea bags

2 cups of water

2 Tbsp (approx 28 grams) of sugar if you want a much sweeter version add 4 Tbsp

1 Tbsp of Vanilla essence (optional)

Let it simmer till it boils (that's when it gets all bubbly and creates smoke) this takes 5 minutes on high heat.

🌈You can now add your...

1 liter and 1cup of plant based milk

(I use sweetened soy milk but you can use watever milk you have at hand, cow’s milk will be the creamiest followed by macademia, oat, soy, and almond would be the most watery milk.

I strongly recommend using the creamiest milk you have in your fridge as you want your Chai to be nice and dense!)

Add 1 teaspooon of cinnamon powder

🌈The Cooking of the Chai on the stove

1.Once the milk has been added always stir as you go because if you don't it will either

a.Boil over

or

b.Stick and burn at the bottom of your pan!

Tip: You can leave your wooden spoon on the edge of the pan.

(This is a magic trick to use when you don't want a liquid in your pan to boil over).

2. Let the Chai foam up and rise to the top and then you can blow on it and lower the heat.

You can keep it cooking for however long you wish this can go on for 15 minutes to over an hour. Make sure to keep it on low heat and to stir it, ever so often!

Finally and most importantly make sure you Taste it so you can make some final adjustements if needed....

🌈If you want it Sweeter add more Sugar and wait another 5 minutes for the sugar to melt!

If it’s too Sweet add more milk and cook it until it foams up again on high heat!

That’s what is fun with Chai you can always adapt to how Sweet or Spicy you want it!

🌈Just remember if you want it to taste spicier then leave your spices in the Chai for a longer infusion (the longer you wait and the more flavourful your chai will be, you can even leave them overnight!)

Have fun with it!

I ladle the Chai into my tea pot or you can use a sieve to remove the spices, if left on the stove a skin will form on the top of the tea, remove it with a spoon and Voilà!

You’ve got yourself a couple Cuppa's of Chai!

If you want to make more double the recipe! As it contains plant based milk it will spoil if left unrefrigerated, keep it no longer then 3 days in the fridge.

You will know when it goes off...

Winter or Summer variations

It’s a nice tea that makes you feel cozy in Winter but for those that are having a hot Summer a cold Iced Chai is really refreshing!

🌈For Summer Version

Just make the same recipe and wait for it to cool down, add 7 ice cubes to a blender and that's your iced Chai ready! You can add some Coffee, Caramel or chocolate powder to the blender if you want to change it up (See below quantities per cup)!

Other Hot or Cold Variations of this recipe would be to add:

A cup of coffee to make a Chai Coffee

One spoon of chocolate or white chocolate powder in your cup to make a Chocolate Chai

1 Tbsp of Caramel syrup to make a Caramel Chai!

You can make turn this tea into a Cocktail Hot or Cold

I recommend using A shot per cup of one of the following liquors or a combination of several!

🌈Amarula or Baileys

🌈Amaretto will make it Sweeter but taste like Almonds

🌈Add some mini Marshmallows for decoration!

❤️Let me know how it goes if you try it out!

Made with lots of Love

🌈Your Hibiscus Kook!