Chai / Tea / How to reduce head-ache?

Recipe: From my Husband

Health Tip:

From Eenadu Telugu News Paper. Carbohydrates, Protein, Fiber, Calcium, Phosphorous, Iron percentage are high in Cardamoms. Cardamoms play a vital role in increasing the digestion.

Cardamom reduces the burning sensation in heart (acidity), Gastric problem.

Cardamom reduces the bad breath.

If you have a tea made with cardamoms when you have head-ache especially which comes because of indigestion, it provides you a relief.
Here is the way of making cardamom chai / tea.

This is to make a strong tea which my husband likes very much. If you want a light tea, just the measurements.

Ingredients:

• Water --- ½ cup
• Milk --- 1 cup
• Tea Powder --- 1 ½ tsp (It may vary from brand to brand. Mine is Brook Bond’s ‘Red Label’.)
• Sugar --- 1 ½ tsp
• Cardamoms --- 4 crushed
• Cardamom Powder --- a small pinch (optional)

Process:

• Take a steel vessel. Pour ½ cup of water to it. Add 1 ½ tsp of tea powder, 4 crushed cardamoms along with the shelves and a small pinch of cardamom powder.
• Bring it to a boil on medium-high heat. Let the water reduce to half of the quantity. This is nothing but decoction.

• Add a cup of milk to it.

• Again bring it to a boil.
• Now reduce the heat to medium and boil it for another 5 minutes so that the rest of the water also evaporates. But be careful at this stage. If the vessel is not big enough the milk may spill.
• Turn off the flame. Filter it with a tea filter. Add sugar as you need. Mix well with a spoon.
• Serve hot.

Ginger Chai/Tea:

If you want to make a ginger tea, just clean 2” piece of ginger nicely. Don’t peel the skin off. Take a knife and cut the ginger along with the skin into big pieces and add to the water in the beginning along with the tea powder and I add cardamoms at this time too.

Earlier I used to peel the skin and used to chop the ginger into tiny pieces and used to crush them and squeeze the liquid and used to add that stuff too. Still my husband used to tell still he didn’t get that ginger flavor.

Later I used to grate. Still he is not satisfied. But finally, this way which my sister-in-law told me has clicked. Among all, this is the easiest way and he is satisfying too!!!

Masala Tea:

I neither add ginger nor cardamom to make a masala tea. I use ‘tea masala’ powder which we got from ouside.

I make tea first. Just a minute before, to turn off the heat I add a pinch of this masala powder. That’s it.

Kitchen Tip:

If you make decoction first and add milk later, cleaning the tea vessel becomes easy. Try it out and let me know.