I wrote a recent post about making chai tea and how it can take less than 5 minutes to make gourmet Indian Chai Tea. I have it every day so I know how awesome it is. I honestly think if Americans and Europeans are waiting to figure out how cool this drink it. It’s got only a third of the caffeine that you find in a regular cup of coffee in the US brewed 5-6 minutes. And it’s got milk which is a wholesome food. So, all in all, I really think it’s a great way to reduce caffeine intake while not going all grumpy on Monday mornings

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Anyway, this post was about an accompaniment to Chai tea. There are actually many, but I am going to write about them one by one. They deserve the individual attention :).

Khari biscuit is again something you find almost only in the Indian kitchen. It is pronounced “Car - ee”. They are like puffed pastries or croissants really, not very different than that, but crispier. They are typically rectangular in shape, about the size of a small cell phone. You dunk it in freshly prepared tea and bite into it. The crispy, multi-layered texture with the taste of chai tea in it, BOY! I’ve been a fan of it since the day I started drinking tea.

You should be able to find it at any Indian store in the US or Europe. It should be in the crackers isle. Some sites even provide recipes to make this at home - Homemade Khari Recipe. I understand it’s not the easiest thing to make at home. I would stick to the one from the store unless you like to take on some real exotic cooking challenges.

Chai tea is to Indians what a cup of black coffee with cream and sugar is to the rest of the world. For the coffee drinkers, it is important to get good coffee AND get it quick. At 6 AM in the morning, when you wake up from sleep and walk towards the kitchen you don’t want to have to use log tables to figure out the coffee formula. Hey, that’s exactly how I feel about tea. Now, I’ve probably had 50+ kinds of teas and at least 10+ kinds of Indian chai teas, ranging from really simple to complex ones that could take a good 30 minutes to make just one cup of tea.

Well, my favorite is the simple one. I love that regardless of where I am in the world, I can make my own little cup of Indian chai tea in less than 5 minutes. Yup, no kidding, less than 5 minutes, I’ve timed it - takes between 4-6 minutes.

So, without further ado, here’s the recipe for THE simplest chai tea in the world.

Ingredients:

1. Chai Tea powder (My favorite is one called Vagh-Bakri Chai that you can get at any Indian stores. Tata Tetley will do it too. Of course the long-leaf expensive Sikkim tea is the best, but I am going for the rather low-end everyday tea for this recipe).
2. Whole Milk (NOT skimmed milk and NOT 2% reduced fat milk. It only needs a little and that’s when it tastes good. If you can’t handle whole milk, I have a tip for you at the end of this reciped).

Sugar

Preparation:

For 1 cup tea,

1. Take half a cup of water in a regular pan.
2. Add 1 teaspoon tea leaves/powder to it and heat on a medium flame.
3. Add half a cup of milk to the mix and keep on the medium flame for 2-3 minutes to let the milk blend well with the tea.
4. Strain the tea leaves using a strainer. Add sugar to taste (usually 1 teaspoon) and serve hot.

THAT’S IT.

Extras - Now, for those of you looking for a little more, here are some ideas.

1. Add peeled, mashed garlic ginger to the water before adding the tea. There you go, you got Ginger Chai Tea now.
2. Add green cardamom or even better black cardamom to make your Cardadmom Chai Tea.
3. OR just buy Indian Chai Masala from the store and add half a teaspoon to the mix for Masala Chai tea.
4. Add clove or cinnamon for a spicy Indian tea.
5. Here’s the tip for those of you that don’t like whole milk. Just add only half a teaspoon of tea leaves instead of 1 teaspoon and then add 1 cup water instead of half. Now have the tea without any milk, and you have Vegan Chai Tea.

Not bad for 5 minutes, eh?