Ginger Chai Recipe (Adrak Wali Chai)
Ginger Chai (Adrak Wali Chai) is a deeply warming, aromatic Indian tea brewed with fresh ginger, milk, and loose-leaf black tea. This hot and comforting drink is perfect to sip on cold monsoon or winter days. Make this sweet, milky, and spicy chai in under 10 minutes using my easy recipe.
Servings: 2 people
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 4 teaspoons peeled and grated ginger you can also crush 2 inches of ginger in a mortar and pestle instead of grating
- 2 teaspoons black tea leaves
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 4 tablespoons whole milk (full-fat milk)
Instructions
- Heat water in a pan over medium-high heat.
- Once the water comes to a rolling boil, add ginger to the pan.
- Reduce the heat to low and let the water simmer for 5 minutes. This step will ensure all the ginger flavors are infused into the water.
- Add tea leaves and sugar and simmer for a minute. Do not simmer for long after adding the tea leaves; otherwise, the tea may become bitter.
- Now add milk and mix well.
- Increase the heat to medium-high and cook for 2 minutes. Watch the pot; the chai will rise quickly when it reaches a boil. Stir with a spoon once the boil reaches the top of the pan to prevent the tea from spilling.
- Strain into 2 tea cups using a tea strainer (fine-mesh strainer) and serve immediately. Ginger chai is at its best piping hot.
Video
Notes
Try buying ginger at an Indian grocery store, as Indian ginger is much more potent than American ginger.
Use the best quality tea leaves to make ginger milk tea. Assam tea or Darjeeling tea works best. I use Tata Tea Gold brand tea leaves. It is available in most Indian grocery stores. Other tea brands like Wagh Bakri, Tajmahal, etc, are also good.
You can also add ½ teaspoon of dried ginger powder to this recipe, as both fresh and dried ginger have distinct flavors.
I use whole milk (full-fat milk) to make ginger chai. I use a lower milk-to-water ratio, and using whole milk keeps my tea from being watery. However, you can also use skim or low-fat milk in this recipe if that is what you have on hand. Just increase its quantity a little bit.
You can adjust the sugar to taste.
To make ginger masala tea, add ½ teaspoon of my homemade chai masala powder to this recipe. If chai masala is unavailable, crush 1 inch of cinnamon sticks, 1 whole clove, a small piece of star anise, 2 green cardamom pods, and ½ teaspoon of fennel seeds, then add these aromatic spices along with spicy ginger. You can also add 5-6 tulsi leaves and ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder when making this tea.
Add the milk only once the water and ginger have boiled nicely. If you add it beforehand, the milk might curdle because of ginger’s acidity.
Pre-warm your cups with hot water before pouring. Cold cups dull the flavor immediately. To pre-heat, pour boiling hot water into the cups, let sit for 30-40 seconds, and then discard the water. Now immediately strain the tea into the cups.
Use a fine-mesh strainer to strain the ginger chai; otherwise, the tea powder will end up in your cup, which is not ideal.
Nutrition
Calories: 37kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.03g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 24mg | Potassium: 64mg | Fiber: 0.1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 49IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 45mg | Iron: 0.03mg
