Ginger Chai (Tea)

Happy Mother’s day. I salute to all the mothers who are working so hard on a daily basis for their families. I read somewhere that Mothers epitomize selfless love and I completely agree with that. I want to take this opportunity to wish my mom a very happy mother’s day and want to thank her for everything. Words are not enough to pay her the gratitude that she actually deserves but just want to say "I love you". For my family, if I am able to do even 50% of what you did for us ….I will be very content. I also want to give my hugs and kisses to my friends Bindu and Rohini for being such great mothers. Akshaya and Sahana are two very lucky girls. Love you guys. I dedicate this recipe to all the wonderful mommies around the world.

Ginger Chai (Tea)

My mornings start with tea.  I am so glad it does, I immediately feel at peace while sipping it. It is very simple to prepare and there are so many different kinds of tea available that you never feel bored. On top of that, you could also add different herbs of your choice to make it healthy. Every part of the world has it's unique recipe. Even within a country, every household has their twist to this recipe. On Mother’s day, I am honored to bring you my mom’s recipe. She likes to have ginger tea. Ginger is very good for health. Just a little bit of it goes a long way.

Tea is one of the oldest beverages and apparently has a very long and interesting history. It is believed that its use was originated first in China, Tibet and northern parts of India.  There is no documentation available to trace Tea’s history but according to Chinese legends it is believed that a king was boiling water under a tree and just by chance few leaves dropped into that boiling water and he was very happy with the outcome. Ever since then Chinese entertained their guest with this recipe and named it ‘Cha’. Tea was brought to India and Japan by Gautam Buddha during his travel and its name evolved as it traveled to Asian and middle eastern countries and is now known as ‘Chai’. Dutch East Indies picked it up from Japan and later it was spread to European countries via traders from East. And now in West it has gained popularity as ‘Chai Tea’. Americans brought it to Atlantic shore where it was enjoyed a lot. This gaining popularity made British to impose taxes on Tea trading which aggravated the Americans. As a result, enraged Americans threw bags and bags of Chai tea into the harbor. This incident is famously known as ‘Boston Tea party’.

It is startling to experience that our simple morning Tea has such a rich history behind it. I have gathered this information from reading several web articles. If any of this info is inaccurate, please feel free to educate me and I will update the correct info in my blog. I had so much fun sharing this history and recipe with you.   

Ingredients:

Wagh bakri tea (commonly found in any Indian grocery store)  - 2 tsp (You could use any brand of your liking)

Sugar - 4 tsp

Ginger - 1 inch (You could add cinnamon/ mint/basil/cardamom etc. herbs as per your liking)

Milk – ½ cup

Water - 1 ½ cups

Serves up to two people

Method:

·         Boil water in a tea kettle/ sauce pan.

·         In a  mortar-pestle, crush ginger and add it to the boiling water and let it boil for 2-3 mins.

·         Add sugar and boil it for 2-3 mins.

·         Add tea granules and boil it again for 2-3 mins.

·         Add milk and boil for 5 mins. Tea is ready.

·         Remove the kettle from stove and filter the tea using a strainer.

·         Serve it with evening snacks or have it during breakfast.

Bon appetit

Devi