Adrakwali Chai or Ginger Tea

It has been raining non-stop for the past few days in Mumbai and it is threatening to rain even more over the next few days! After my ritual “tumbler” of filter coffee in the morning, I sometimes crave tea in the day.

We Indians make an astonishing variety of teas; elaichi chai or cardamom tea, masala chai, doodh patti chai or tea laden with milk and sugar, adrak wali chai… and even chocolate tea (i’ll get to that some other day) And everyone has their own way of making tea. In my own home, we have three ways: my way which I learnt from staunch Maharashtrian friends, my dad’s way which he learnt during his bachelor ways, and the way my sister-in-law makes it, the North Indian way! 🙂

My personal favourite tea is Ginger Tea or Adrakwali Chai. I find Ginger Tea especially soothing when I have a sore throat or when I am down with the flu.

Ginger has many beneficial effects of Ginger and is widely used in Indian cooking.

Servings: 2 Cups

Time: 7-10 Minutes

Ingredients

1. Water – 1.5 Cups
2. Cow Milk or Skimmed Milk – 2/3 Cup
3. Strong Assam Tea Powder – 2 tsps
4. Sugar – 2 tsp
5. Fresh Grated Ginger – 1 tsp

Method

1. Bring the water to boil.
2. Add the tea leaves, grated ginger, and sugar.
3. Simmer for 3 minutes.
4. While the tea is simmering, bring the milk to boil in a separate vessel.
5. Turn off the heat from both the milk and tea.
6. Add the boiling milk to the tea.
7. Cover the tea and let “sit” for 3-5 minutes.
8. Strain the tea into two tea cups.
9. Serve hot with warm khari.

Tips

• I prefer not to use full fat milk or buffalo milk because it makes the tea very thick and heavy.
• Some of the water evaporates when boiled and so we use a tad bit more water than required.