What is the best way to serve chai when guests come over? Typically guests will sit in the living room and then get invited over to a dining table for snacks in our house, but we as a family dont drink chai so this is very confusing. Do you ladies make the tea with sugar? leave it out? Do you also have water on the table? What snacks do you put out? When do you make more? Do you leave some in the put?
If someone could walk me through this I would be grateful. Also is someone has a bomb chai recipe that would also be good. I dont think i get the hype, maybe I've never had a decent cup.
always make chai without the sugar because everyone has their own preferences on how much sugar they like, if any. once you ask what they like, you can add it yourself o have them do it (no, it's not rude to let them do it)
bring it out with snacks. chai can be served with a range of side food like kabobs, samosa, pakore, cake, biscuits, and the list goes on. you make/serve more once you see them finishing up the food lol ? unless they really don't want any. I don't understand your last question "do you leave some in the put"
What is the best way to serve chai when guests come over?
I used to have the chai started on very low heat beforehand. You can organize snacks and set the table while the chai stays on low heat. By the time they're settled down, my chai is well cooked and ready for serving.
Typically guests will sit in the living room and then get invited over to a dining table for snacks in our house, but we as a family dont drink chai so this is very confusing.
We didn't drink much chai either, but all of our social contacts did.
Do you ladies make the tea with sugar? leave it out?
My mom adds some sugar to "neutralize" it, so it doesn't feel sugary and there's room for more sugar. I always make chai without sugar, later adding it accordingly to individual preferences.
Do you also have water on the table? What snacks do you put out? When do you make more? Do you leave some in the put?
A water gallon sitting on the side doesn't hurt. Snacks usually depend on if the guests are just here for "chai" or a proper dinner. If it's just chai, snacks will be wider in their range and quantity. A little of everything. You should be able to grasp if you need to start making more. It's usually better to have leftovers, than not enough.
If someone could walk me through this I would be grateful. Also is someone has a bomb chai recipe that would also be good. I dont think i get the hype, maybe I've never had a decent cup.
There isn't really a recipe. It's just, use equivalent quantities of milk and water. The more you let it simmer, the better it gets. Don't rush your chai.
What a funny dilemma (sorry if you didn’t mean it to be funny).
From the little bit experience of observing my mother and helping her out after I started focusing on family, household and related stuff recently, your entire chai set up depends on the preference of your guests. We had all kinds of guests last 2 months. But they were mostly from the family so we knew of their preferences. For example, one family strictly does not eat any outside food. So my mother prepared 3-4 items at home for them. Since it was winter so carrot halva was always their on all the chai set ups. You can also have kheer, fruit trifle, dahi phulkiyan, mini homemade samosas &/or spring rolls, shami kebabs, chicken sandwiches, etc. These are the most common basic items for a home made tea arrangement. You can add or rem9ve as per preference. For specialized tea arrangement specific to the invited family, you need to know their preferences. Same goes for the tea. Some guests like Kashmiri especially in winter, some prefer the normal one. Sometimes you’ll need to make both. Sugar must always be accompanied separately. The only time you’re allowed to serve sugar mixed tea or doodh patti is to a close friend or relative or when a guests specifically asks for it.
On the other hand, if you don’t have any limitation whether home made or outside food, you can always order what your guests like. Our usual items to order from out are bakery made pizza, patties, plain or cream cake, nimko, biscuits. And items are added or removed depending on how many guests & who.
One thing I learned last time I made Kashmiri for guests is never leave the milk cream over the top when serving guests. It’s against the etiquettes. I left it floating over the top and my mom came back to filter it. She said I should have cooked the creamy milk in qahwa for flavor instead of adding cream over the top. It doesn’t look nice when serving the guests. And oh yeah, tea is usually not served over the dining. It’s mostly in the guest room. But I guess that’s also a personal preference of the host.
a lot of the snacks everyone seems to serve are quite substantial-but served in the sitting room. how does everyone manage both tea and snacks if theres not always a table or a place to set things down nearby. Also, since everyone seems to be setting out sugar separately, isnt it odd if everyone goes turn by turn adding sugar into their chai? Im imagining 10 people just passing round the sugar pot. sorry for the idiotic questions :( even when ive gone to other people homes, the chai service has been trash. never seen it done elegantly and would really love to nail it since we are entertaining more. If anyone has walked away from a chai impressed, would love for you all to share what made it special.
Stark, you bring from kitchen on trolley. Once all the snacks are placed on the table. Bring the tea in the end, keep the trolley aside, pour & serve one by one. Check the guest about the sugar how much, if any, then serve. It can be passed on so you don’t need to get up from your place every time. But this incase of guests from within the family so that it doesn’t look in appropriate to ask first guest to pass on to the rest. Incase of new guests, probably you’ll go yourself to serve one by one I don’t know.
Incase of more than one families, a buffet / hi tea kind of set up can be arranged on the dining. Remove or not remove the chairs depending on how much space you’ll need. When we have more than 1 large or 2 small families invited, then we serve on dining.
Not to pass around sugar but add / not add the sugar after checking with guests & pass on the cups. My mother brings tea in the end and follows that.
Also, usually there is atleast 1 water bottle (1.5 ltr) on the tea table. Incase of more guests keep more bottles. Most of our guests don’t drink alot of water with tea so we usually ask them if they need any.
Bomb chai recipe of my mother is make real strong qahwa with (original) Tapal DAANEDAAR (I said original because there are too many fake boxes being sold in the market and many times even we end up buying fake. The original is mostly in large family size packs. The smaller packs mostly fake. There are fake boxes in large family size too). So my mom makes real strong qahwa and adds 3 teaspoons of ‘Everyday’ power milk. But since this powder milk is sweetened so some guests may not require more sugar. I’m addicted to mom made tea. But since tea flushes body calciam so I have not been drinking her insanely aromatic tea for last one week due to my backache. Also personally, I don’t like powder milk but when my mother makes that Yes, I JUST CAN’T RESIST Its SOOO BOMBBB… And when you say you don’t want it, she teases you even more, flying around the qahwa filled cups in your face. So with that aromatic steam you sniff up, you end up craving it and asking for one. And I tried making it with the same qahwa myself but it ends up random. So I really don’t know what it is. Maybe she knows the proportion of patti / water. I don’t know. For that reason, I make doodh patti when craving tea at odd time. I didn’t even know what doodh patti was until some guests visited and asked for it. Nobody made it at home prior to that. I was the one who started making it after that for myself and anyone else who would want it too. Doodh Patti recipe is very simple. You add no water but Patti & sugar directly in milk. Patti quantity as per your own preference of dark / light tea. Then let it simmer until you see the color and consistency to your liking then remove. But not all the people like it so ask your guests first.
Its SOOO BOMBBB… And when you say you don’t want it, she teases you even more, flying around the qahwa filled cups in your face. So with that aromatic steam you sniff up, you end up craving it and asking for one. And I tried making it with the same qahwa myself but it ends up random. So I really don’t know what it is. Maybe she knows the proportion of patti / water. I don’t know. For that reason, I make doodh patti when craving tea at odd time. I didn’t even know what doodh patti was until some guests visited and asked for it. Nobody made it at home prior to that. I was the one who started making it after that for myself and anyone else who would want it too. Doodh Patti recipe is very simple. You add no water but Patti & sugar directly in milk. Patti quantity as per your own preference of dark / light tea. Then let it simmer until you see the color and consistency to your liking then remove. But not all the people like it so ask your guests first.