My favorite moshala cha

Most Indians who are passionate about food will have a favorite masala cha or moshola cha as we say in Bengal. Some people (like me) prefer it simple with just a bit of ginger and cinnamon, others like Gujaratis for example load their tea with a specially prepared chai-masala mix, south Indians crush a few cardamoms and ginger with the brewing tea and the list goes on with endless variations.

I make a big production of my evening tea, partly because I work out of home and have enough time to do this at around 4 pm, and also because I love tea especially on rainy or cold evenings. I also happen to love my 8 inch cannister shaped blue and white Chinese ceramic teapot with twisted wire handles.

I usually drink a few small cups of steaming hot tea with a small bowl of some Indian snack like bhujia or the south Indian chickpea murrukku. I use good quality tea leaf, at the moment I am using the Harrod's breakfast blend (Number 14, really delicious black teas from various countries) but when I am out of this, I use a local mix of Assam and Darjeeling tea that I buy on my visits back to Calcutta.


The Recipe

A few pieces of fresh ginger cut into small bits
1 cinnamon stick
milk
water
sugar


Heat some water in a pot and rinse out your teapot with this warm water just before pouring in your freshly made tea.

In a pot place the ginger pieces and cinnamon stick, cover with water and simmer gently for a couple of minutes. Then add milk as required and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn off heat and add tea leaves (the rule of thumb is a teaspoon of leaves for each cup + one for the pot). Cover and allow to brew for a while. Pour into your warmed teapot and serve with some spicy snack.
You may also prepare the tea and serve the milk and sugar separately in the Western way, but with masala tea the milk is usually added to the brewing tea and then served.