Chai Recipes From Our Readers!

While Thanksgiving or Christmas is not traditionally celebrated by many of us southeast Asians, this holiday season does become an opportunity to relax, gather with family, friends, and take joy in the company and food. After all, the school’s out, we are off from work, and there is festivity in the air. So if we are not travelling to our native countries, we make best of this joyous season, make best of our tea evenings, sometimes gather with family and friends. And being desi, these moments of solitude or togetherness almost always conclude with one essential item: chai. Whether it’s a two families meeting for dinner or a big party with a guest list rivaling a wedding, chai is the grand finale. But to be clear, the tea-drinking is not at all related to the weather. We Pakistanis and most of the desis drink hot tea whether it’s hot or cold, June or December, rain or shine, Arizona or Chicago.

The beauty of this iconic drink lies in its diversity. Every household, actually every person in same household has a recipe, each one unique. Some swear by mixed tea, all ingredients brewed over stovetop, while others insist on brewing them separately for the perfect balance.  Living in America has added another dynamic to this tradition. It is easier to get the tea in today’s age but those who came 25, 35 or 50 or so years ago only had few choices – hunt down the tea version closest to back home to bring that taste, creatively experiment with American brands to reach that flavor true to the desi chai or bring/beg people to bring tea from Pakistan or India. And believe me, till few years ago, the same brand and box from Pakistan had a different promise of taste than the one here. I and many of my other friends still bring tea from Pakistan but thank Almighty for increasing number of desi stores, we have now the tea that we wanted at our hands. Thus, fortunately tea-making has become a more achievable task now a days for desi tea-drinkers.

Like I mentioned before, chai is a very personal matter – and honestly there is no method to this madness of tea drinking, no genes or traits are passed down that can indicate who will like what kind of tea, no matrimonial harmony dictates if spouses will be on the same page for that cup of tea – you may like to sit and watch same movies, enjoy same kind of vacations but your cup of tea is selfishly your cup of tea! Even siblings growing up in the same household with same mom making the tea, have different preference and we all have our beloved shades of tea!

Come to think of it, there is a huge combination of tea with its ingredients, and when it comes to color and warmth (you may understand concept of probability if you didn’t in your math class!). We have those who love it strong with few drops of milk, some who like strong but with lots of milk, then we have weak with less milk or more, some go for specific hue, some like the cup to reach to them very hot, but watch it get cold and then drink it, some sip such hot tea that it would burn another person’s lips… and it goes on and on and on! All in all, to each to their own.

These big decisions of milk, temperature, color and when and how to combine all these ingredients all are touchy subjects – mood enhancers/mood breakers. There are however few common points that most of desis are able to agree on:

• We rarely like is tea that has been made and kept for some time (it has to be fresh)
• Or the tea that has been iced! We like it hot even if we don’t drink it hot
• And the word “chai tea” definitely evokes variety of emotions, from laughing to cringing at the redundancy of the term. (Chai is tea in Urdu guys, and chai in English is tea y’alls!!)

The essentials for Pakistani Chai!

Every household is equipped with tea and its accouterments – for everyday consumption, for drop in friends and for gatherings!

Here are few of the important items we all have to ensure tea can always be made.

Tea staples:

• Tea – loose or teabags
• Milk – regular/low fat, evaporated, powder milk or half n half
• Sugar/honey/sweetener
• Cardamom

Cookware:

• Saucepan/stock pot for bigger parties
• Ladle to spoon out
• Electric kettle
• Percolator

Serveware:

• Thermos
• Teapot
• Sieve/strainer
• And of course tea cups or mugs
• Milk pot
• Sugar pot
• Teaspoons
• Tea bag rest
• Tea cozy

These are all used in one way or another depending upon for what occasion the tea is being prepared for and who, but we are always ready to make the tea for one and for many.

To strain or not to strain!

Strainers are used if tea is made from loose tea leaves. Straining can be done after tea is poured into the teacups from the pot. Or if tea is made by pouring water over tea leaves in a thermos or teapot, you can use it to strain leaves. While for bigger parties, it is not easy to strain every cup and tea is usually made in bulk, mostly using percolators, straining is usually left to behind the scene for most part. There is however a certain fancy charm and civilized sophistication related to pouring the tea in the teacup, from the teapot, using a strainer.

When to add Milk?

Another big question! While brewing, after steeping? On the stove, in the teapot, or directly in the teacups? So many ways to make a cup!

Loose tea or teabags?

Age-old debate and personal preferences again – purists do not believe in tea bags but sometimes depending upon what method you use, you can’t tell if tea was made by teabag or patti (loose tea).

Reader-Shared Recipes: A Chai Celebration

And now to the gist of this post – recipes shared by our readers!

This year, as holidays approach, we reached out to fellow chai lovers of desi-American community and abroad and asked to share their favorite tea recipes. We had such a heartwarming response! Following are some of the recipes of how this beloved drink is prepared in homes across the U.S. and all over the world for self, household and for bigger parties!

Thanks so much to the readers who took time to share recipes – so humbled to have this heartwarming response! And we apologize for many recipes that we could not add in this pot. But here is a good news, we will be doing another round of tea and other beverage recipes before Ramadan. Look out for our shout out on our social media!

Till our next tea time!