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I love brewing this chai, partly because it makes the kitchen smell amazing and partly because it’s such a lovely thing to share for morning or afternoon tea, but mostly because it makes a nice change from regular coffee and tea.
Makes about 4 cups
1/4 cup (20 grams) allspice berries
1/4 cup (15 grams) cardamom pods
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon cloves
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
4 star anise
1/4 cup (20 grams) good-quality loose-leaf black tea
8 cups (2 litres) water
4-centimeter (1-and-1/2-inch) piece ginger, roughly chopped
milk, to serve
1 cup (220 grams) white (granulated) sugar
1 tablespoon rosewater
1 cup (250 milliliters) water
1 vanilla bean, split lengthways
Combine the sugar, rosewater, and water in a saucepan. Scrape the vanilla seeds into the pan and add the scraped pod. Cook over medium–high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves.
Set aside to cool, then strain the syrup into a jar and store in the fridge.
Mix the dried spices together and place them in a large dry saucepan. Toast over medium heat for a few minutes or until just beginning to pop and smell lovely.
Pour in water and bring to a simmer, then leave the mixture to bubble away for about 20 minutes or until reduced by half.
Remove from the heat, add the tea and ginger and steep for five minutes. Strain the chai, discarding the spices and tea leaves, and pour it into a jug to store in the fridge.
To serve, heat the chai with equal parts milk and chai until steaming, then sweeten with the vanilla rose syrup, to taste.
Recipe excerpted with permission from Around the Kitchen Table: Good things to cook, create and do – the whole year through (Murdoch Books, 2022). Purchase on Amazon.
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The first evidence of the use of vanilla has been discovered in residue from an afterlife feast at a 3,600-year-old tomb in Israel, rewriting the history of the spice. https://www.ebay.de/str/khalouagbr