How to make Indian Chai

See threads abotu this pop from time ot time so I figured I'd just make a thread about different chai recipes. But before I go, I just tell you. Chai IS tea. Chai literally means tea in hindi and many other languages. So there is no such thing is "Chai tea" since it basically translates to "tea tea". Now that you're a bit schooled, lets move on to the recipes!

Regular chai: Boil a mug of water (add sugar if you like), when the water is violently boiling, add 1/2 tea spoon of black tea. Boil it more for about 2-3 minutes. Now when you pour it in a cup, you can use 1 tbsp of powdered milk if you like. If you prefer regular moo-cow milk, I would suggest using it while boiling (around the time you add sugar). This way you can limit your use of milk rather than eliminating it completely

doodh patti: boil a mug of milk, as soon as milk starts boiling violently, put half a tea spoon of black tea in it with sugar (if you like). Wait about 2 minuets. No water needs to be added.

ilaichi chai: start boiling a mug of water, add some milk into it (as much as you prefer) with 2 pods of cardamom. As soon as it starts boiling, add 1/2 tsp of black tea with sugar. Boil for 2 more minutes, You can add a VERY tiny piece of ginger in it also when you add cardamom.

Saudi Indian chai: Let a mug of water boil violently till about 3/4th of the mug of water remains. Tea bag (teehee), sugar and a generous amount (about 1/3rd of the mug) of EVAPORATED milk into the bottom of the mug, pour the water into the cup. Move the tea bag around while giving the tea some time to cool down.

Gud chai: Gud = Jaggery. You basically replace sugar with Jaggery in all the above recipes except Saudi Indian chai and donot mix ginger with the chai when using Jaggery. You will have to give Jaggery some time to cook and distribute also. Chai with Jaggery is AWESOME!

If you take away the cardamom from the above ilaichi chai then that is regular indian chai. If you make that 1 tsp of black tea in it then it is kadak chai. If you add Jaggery in the start of boiling process in any of those chais then it becomes "gur chai" (or "gud chai")

This is how we make it in Pakistan and many areas of India.

Hope this helps you a bit. Good luck.