My first venture this time 'round is as Assistant Costume Designer and Wardrobe Supervisor for a great organization, Making Books Sing, with whom I've worked several times in years past. They bring culturally significant musical plays to kids in NYC and around the country, all based on childrens books.
This year's play is Tea With Chachaji, based on the book Chachaji's Cup by Uma Krishnaswami. It tells the tale of a young Indian-American boy, Neel, his Indian-born, American-educated mother, and his Great Uncle (Chachaji) who came from India to live with them in Jackson Heights after Neel's father dies. While Neel just wants to be a "normal kid," Chachaji is trying to keep Neel connected to his Indian heritage by telling him the fantastical stories of the deities they worship over chai tea every afternoon.
To work on this play is to be immersed in Indian culture: Countless beautiful saris, embroidered kurtas, dhotis, glittery vests, turbans and masks of Hanuman, Sita, Rama, and a seven-headed demon comprise the costumes. The set includes projections of video of everything from Jackson Heights to the Indian Partition of 1947 to Bollywood posters. And members of the band play tabla and sitar.
All of this has of course given me a voracious appetite for typical Masala Chai, whatever that is. From asking around (yogis, Bollywood stars) and searching the internet, I found there is great variance in the recipes. The main components are black tea, spices (most always including cinnamon), milk and sugar. And the method is usually to infuse the herbs in water for a while, then add milk and sugar, THEN add tea, then strain and pour, though some might add the milk and sugar last. Common spices are fresh ginger, cardamom, allspice, cloves, black and/or white peppercorns.
I'm lucky to live a block over from one of NYC's Little Indias, in the East Village. There is a small Indian convenience store/spice shop located on First Avenue between 5th and 6th Sts that I frequently pass. I had no idea how well-stocked they were until today. It's heartening to know that I'll no longer need to travel uptown to Kalustyan's the next time I want to pick up fresh turmeric or any kind of lentil or couscous imaginable. This shop near me, called Dual Specialty Store, Inc, even had several varieties of quinoa and some organic bulk loose herbs!
I picked up organic green cardamom pods, whole allspice berries, and fresh ginger. They also had a 1lb, 13 oz can of chickpeas for $2 and change! Then I ran home and boiled 2 c. water. I added about 10 cardamom pods, 10 cloves, 2 allspice berries, a 2-inch section of cinnamon stick, a few white and black peppercorns, and between 5-10 pink peppercorns, covered it and let it begin to simmer while I shaved off a few pieces of ginger to throw in as well. I allowed it to continue simmering for 10-15 minutes.
My Masala Chai was destined to be to be different. I have a large canister of China white tea leaves that were beckoning me. I also don't drink cow's milk or half and half, as is typically used. I had wanted to use soy milk or soy creamer for a fuller, smoother tea, but didn't feel like going to another store. I think a nut milk (almond, cashew) would also be a great substitute, but my boyfriend is nut-allergic so we don't normally keep nutty stuff in our kitchen. And so it was that I used thin, watery rice milk in my chai.
After the spices were simmering for a bit, and some of the water had evaporated, I added 2/3 c. rice milk and a few swirls of evaporated cane juice. I let that go for another 5 minutes or so, when I turned off the heat and added about 3 tablespoons of my adorable, furry, silvery white tea leaves, and watched them unfurl in the liquid as they steeped for 5 minutes. In the pot, the infusion still seemed altogether dim, so I added another swoosh of rice milk. The tea was then poured into teacups topped with a strainer, leaving a beautiful fragrant pile of herbs and spices in its wake.
My chai was perfectly sweet and spicy. The rice milk ended up being a good choice for use with white tea leaves; it kept it lovely and light, and actually allowed the white tea's very mild character to shine through. I felt a pleasant, dull burning in my throat. Next time I will use even more ginger, perhaps nutmeg too, and make a larger quantity in general. This yielded about two full (small) teacups, but I totally wanted a refill!
Making chai is super easy and I love that it's adaptable. I make an Ayurvedic tisane in the same manner that is similar except not sweet, and includes coriander and fennel seads as well. I also think of adding flower petals and playing with the flavor profiles more. I might try a different herb blend next time for a sort of fusion chai. The definitive components will always be spice, sugar, and milk.
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