KARAK/CHAI
ARABIAN GULF | INDIA
Chai in India and karak in the Arabian Gulf are two names for the same cardamom-flavored and heavily sweetened milky tea. When I was in India, I stopped at chai vendors whenever I passed by one to have some chai, never worrying about the hygiene because they had a wonderful system of disposable terra-cotta cups. Once you drank your tea, either you or the vendor would throw the small terra-cotta cup onto a heap of broken cups. Far more ecological than using disposable paper cups, even if I didn’t really get to the bottom of how they recycled them.
MAKES 2 CUPS
3 green cardamom pods, smashed
1 inch (2.5 cm) fresh ginger, smashed
2½ teaspoons Assam tea leaves
2½ teaspoons raw cane sugar
¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon (200 ml) whole milk
Put ⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon (100 ml) water in a saucepan with a pouring spout. Add the cardamom and ginger and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the tea and sugar and let bubble for 1 minute or so. Add the milk and bring to a boil. As soon as the milk threatens to boil over, remove the pan from the heat. Let the milk settle and return the pan to the heat. Again let it almost boil over and remove from the heat. Repeat once more, then strain into two cups. Pour the karak from high up into one cup and again into the other so as to aerate it. You can also transfer the karak to a thermos to keep hot for serving later or to a teapot to serve more elegantly. Serve hot.