Indian Chai - fit for a Guru

When a friend invited me to her artist-in-residence studio to attend a reception exhibiting the printwork of her boyfriend’s Indian guru, my interest peaked.  When she expressed a bit of reticence about hosting a holy person without her second half around,  I quickly jumped in, “What can i bring?  Wine?  Snacks?”  When she replied that it was a vegan non-alcoholic reception (my inner thought: blerg) and said “I’m hoping someone brings chai,”  I quickly volunteered.  I had made Indian Chai in the past, so it wasn’t my first go round, but as with most “moments of inspiration,” I amend my initial instinct with a little online recipe research to make sure I’m not missing an important component.

A few years back, I helped cater a Silicon Valley executive’s 50th birthday party.  He was from India and his wife was a German control freak (not stereotyping here, but this particular woman seriously took the cake).  When it got to be time for dessert, she suddenly decided she was going to make chai, but in her hasty A.D.D. over-preparation for the party (a team of helpers were still opening boxes of decorations when we arrived just a couple of hours before the guests), she had failed to purchase the ingredients, so sent one of her assistants to the store for fresh ginger.  She then “ordered” my chef to peel the ginger, and started a large pot of water on the stove.  Slicing the ginger in ⅛” coins, she tossed them into the water with a small handful of black peppercorns and waited for it to boil.  I thought, “that’s it, just ginger and black pepper?”  After it had boiled for several minutes, she turned off the heat and added black tea bags, milk and sugar, stirred and stirred, and then strained them mixture into several cups.  After serving the guests, I made off to the butler’s kitchen with a steaming cup (yes, there was a butler's kitchen).   It was simply delicious:  Spicy, sharp and sweet with the beautiful backdrop of PG TIPS and half and half.  So when faced with the task of making chai for 20 people, I channeled German control freaker’s recipe, and decided to add in a few cloves, some cardamom and cinnamon to round it out.  

INGREDIENTS

About 100 g/3.5 oz ginger, a tuber about the size of average outstretched hand

5 cloves

10 black peppercorns

12 cardamom pods (green or black, your choice)

6 black tea bags (PG TIPS or ASSAM tea)

3T agave or sugar

I called one of my chef friends and asked if he boiled the spices and he said not to - worrying about the boiling doing something “weird” to them.  I assumed this meant extracting unsavory qualities.  However, when my mixture began to boil and I tasted the water, it still seemed weak with flavor, so I went ahead and ignored his advice and boiled the mixture on medium high for about 5 or so minutes.  I turned off the heat, but have one of those electric conduction cooktops, so the burner stays hot and the mixture was still bubbling when I added the teabags.  I let them steep for about another 5-7 minutes, tasting as I went, knowing full well that the black tea would, in fact, become bitter if it steeped too long.  I strained the whole mixture over a large metal bowl, added some agave (because that’s what I had) and a fair amount of rice milk (remember, these folks are vegan).  I thought about coconut milk for the fat content, but decided the coconut flavor may take away from the authentic notes I was trying to hit.

All in all, I ended up with 7 quarts of hot chai which I transported to the the studio, reheated, and served in a crockpot to eager attendees, including an Indian attendant and small entourage of followers.  It didn’t occur to me until that very moment that I had agreed to make Indian Chai for Indian people,  had I gone mad?  As the guests sipped the warm brew, we admired her intricate woodblock prints, and discovered a life dedicated to art and expression, and that as a Guru she channels that creativity not only through printmaking, but through a very specific form of Indian song known as Baul, a Bengal Guru tradition.   She and one of her followers performed a few songs as she plucked a small two stringed instrument, seemingly in trance, swaying her floor length dreadlocks back and forth to the beat while the residence dogs stared on, wagging their tails.  

The next day, my friend texted, “we just finished up the last mason jar of chai, and Parvathy “likes it very much.”  After a quick google search of “Parvathy” it became clearly evident that Parvathy Baul is quite the famous touring Guru and musician, performing worldwide.  I’m sure glad I didn’t know that when I was preparing her chai, but happy to be reassured that making delicious things to share is my particular creative calling, a spiritual happy place.