Boil one-two cups water .. then add two tsp green tea leaves and add quarter tsp baking soda .. cover the pan and let it boil on low heat .. after about 15 minutes , add in a cup of cold water and start splashing the mixture with a deep spoon .. ( fill the spoon , raise it to the top of the pan and drop the chai back into the rest of it ) this process helps release flavour and color .. keep doing this for five minutes at least .. then add another cup cold water and do the same splash action again …
When you see the chai has become dark maroon color .. at that point add 2 cups of milk, bring it to a boil … then minimize the heat and splash the tea once again a few times .. finally add salt and sugar or just salt or just sugar , what ever combination you enjoy the most …before taking it off the flame , add half tsp cardimom powder …
I usually whip up some cream and spread it on top of the tea and sprinkle some nuts … it makes a really enjoyable drink
1- The first 15 minutes when the leaves are boiling in hot water, thats when their entire taste is getting released , so you gotta ensure you let it boil really really well at the intial stage
2- When you add cold water to the hot boiling water, that helps the leaves release their color .. if the water isnt very cold, the leaves wont give out enough color , and the minute you add chilled water in, you HAVE to splash the tea fast enough so that before the mixture gets warm again you have gotten maximum color out of the leaves ... I speed up my splash movements at this stage .. and the minute the water starts boiling again, I add another super chilled cup of water and repeat the splash action ... this gives me a very maroon tea ..
If you go wrong at either of the two steps , the tea is ruined ... Soda bicarb is a secret ingredient, it needs to be added at step one or the leaves wont give out enough taste or color
Sure do Akmoti, all the very best ... erm one quick thing, when i add cream , i whip it first slightly so that it remains on the top of the tea or else it just mixes into the hot tea and makes it too rich for my taste ..
yeah those two taste really good in tea too .. only coz husband doesnt like that particular I have to stick to cardamom werna , star anise and saunf both give out perfect aromatic pink tea .. thanks so much for that addition proto
CB, I made pink tea tonight using your recipe. I tried following it as much as I could but the resultant product was not pink :( it tasted pretty darn good, though.
I would really appreciate if you could mke a video for all of us :-)
Yup, same! I will have another go at it. I actually got impatient and didn't give it 15 minutes to simmer before adding cold water and probably, that's why I didn't get the expected result :S?
Will try again and report back :)
Wish, I will make a video inshallah but its gonna take time due to a personal situation at the moment ..
But the Pink color of the leaves totally depends on the following:
Did you add soda bicarb right in the beginning while boiling leaves?
did you leave it to simmer good enough time , pot covered , so the leaves give out maximum aroma and color ?
When you added the cold water, you have to do the splash action at least 20-25 times both times ( there's almost two times you are adding the cold water ) if you dont do the splash action , the leaves wont let out their maroonish color
and when you are adding milk to the tea, make sure you dont over do the milk coz then the pinkish color will turn to lightest pink and wont be very visible ...
noor , i get green tea /kashmiri tea leaves from a desi cash n carry , dunno if chinese shop might have the same quality green leaves .. not tried them so cant say ..
Twinkle, I think desi shops usually carry this stuff .. look in their tea isle ... even if it says kashmiri chai, get that .. I picked up a few boxes of Alokazay green tea on my last trip home to Dubai and that tea also worked wonderfully ... i dunno though if Alokazay is available here in the west .. I havnt seen it in the UK ..
Splash action : fill a deep spoon with tea , raise your hand and the filled spoon to a higher level above the pot.. then drop the tea from the spoon.. the force with which the tea will drop back into the pot will allow the taste and the color to release from the leaves ..
I tried looking for a video with this splash action but cant find anything , I dont know what they call it in Pakistan :(
^splash action like the chai wala in pakistan uchaal the tea in two bowls…so you do it with spoon…
or when you are cooking saalan or soup you raise the liquid with spoon to see its consistency…hope you understand…
n i hope i told the right thing CB:sid:
