best chai ever!

so in my preparations for my trip to india, i've been attempting to make a decent cup of chai for the past week or so. After many so'so attempts, I made a cup that I was proud of! even the chai nazis of "taste of india" in seattle would be proud. it sucks b/c i only made this small amount so i can't refill it fast enough. always make a small amount until you get it right, no sense in wasting good ingredients! here is the recipe and note my changes/additions at the very bottom.

I got this from a website: http://www.odie.org/chai/recipes.html#recmenu1

note that it only makes about 2 (small) cups. Scale it up for more:

Masala Chai
1-1/2 cups water
1 inch stick of cinnamon
8 cardomom pods
8 whole cloves
2/3 cup milk
6 tsp. sugar (or to taste)
3 teaspoons any unperfumed loose black tea

Put 1-1/2 cups water in saucepan.

Add the cinnamon, cardomom, and cloves and bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the milk and sugar and bring to a simmer again.

Throw in the tea leaves, cover, and turn off the heat. After 2 minutes, strain the tea into two cups and serve immediately.

From Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking, Barron's, New York, p. 196 (1983).

I added about 1 tsp of chopped fresh ginger, and 8 black peppercorns. I also mashed the cardamom pods. I used 1/3 cup of rice milk and 1/3 cup of organic half'n'half, and instead of sugar I used about two tsp of agave nectar. It was freaking amazing. Oh, and I used two teabags and just broke them open and poured them in.

Happy chai making! It is really important to use whole spices, the ground stuff just is not the same. Now to learn how to make proper Palaak Paneer...