Mira Manek’s Chai
Chai is synonymous with India. If you’re Indian, it’s usually the first thing you drink when you wake up and what you have after your afternoon siesta to give you that burst of life and energy. I have my own chai spice mix, containing seven spices and coconut sugar, that I serve at my café, Chai by Mira, and now online. Different parts of India make chai in very different ways, from boiling it with lots of grated ginger to simply crushing cardamom pods to using a masala spice mix, the way I do. However, the dominant spices are always ginger and cardamom, so you could start o working with those. Here’s a few simple ways to make a quick cuppa chai at home.
If you have Mira’s chai spice mix, a blend of 7 spices and coconut sugar, you simply boil a tablespoon with milk!
If not, boil together the following for 5–10 minutes on a low to medium heat, then strain into a mug and enjoy – the true Indian way:
- 1 mug any milk you like
- 1 English breakfast teabag or 1-2 tsp loose tea leaves
- 1⁄4–1⁄2 teaspoon ground ginger or 1cm piece of fresh ginger grated
- 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)
- pinch of black pepper and cinnamon
To make chai directly in your mug:
- place a teabag in your mug as normal
- add 1⁄4 teaspoon of ground ginger, and sugar if you like (or 1 tbsp of Mira’s spice mix
- pour over some boiling water from the kettle slowly, stirring as you pour, leaving enough space for milk
- pour in any milk you like (I use almond or oat milk) but again pour slowly and stir as you pour
Mira Manek