Make your own karha masala for homemade chai.
Karha Masala
I wanted to make chai ice cream, but in my search for what actually goes into chai, I discovered that the word chai means tea! Which means that the term chai tea is redundant. In fact, chai is made with a masala – a mix of spices, known as karha masala. I could not find an exact recipe but I did find a long list of ingredients, some vital and others optional and so I decided to make my own masala for this ice cream. This karha masala uses all the warm spices, and as this was made in time for Christmas, it was just perfect. It has a strong emphasis on ginger so if you are not partial to the heat in ginger, reduce the amount you use. If you want it sweet, add some sugar.
I love pain perdu, but don’t make it often enough. Adding spices and using unusual breads can turn the ordinary into something special. Eggy bread as it is otherwise known is a great dessert for children. Just be sure to soak the bread long enough.
Karha Masala
Ingredients
- 5 mls ground ginger
- 5 mls green cardamom pods
- 5 mls ground cinnamon
- 1 star anise
- 2.5 mls fennel seeds
- 1.25 mls black peppercorns
- 5 mls whole cloves
- 1.25 mls allspice
- 2.5 mls ground nutmeg
Method
- lightly toast the spices until fragrant
- place the spices into a spice blender and blend until smooth
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that is a lovely chai masal tandy. We use everything that you mentioned except fennel seeds in chai masala
thank you Veena for sharing that – I just guessed what I needed 🙂
sounds delicious!
it was put to good use as well 🙂
Nice idea – I use tea in quite a lot of recipes, although I rarely drink it.
I am starting to use tea for more than my tea cup, slowly but surely 🙂
Wow, very different and sounds delicious.
🙂 Mandy
thanks Mandy 🙂
Sounds like a lovely warming spice mix and I´d love a cup of chai made with that!
It is very warming (read hot) 🙂
I just had a big spicy whiff of Christmas up my nose — honestly! 😀
that is so good!
What an intriguing flavor of ice cream! And a great analysis of Indian words…my roommate is Indian and apparently most food descriptors are used incorrectly all the time.
It is so great to learn new phrases and then use them correctly 🙂
Now I’m craving a spiced chai latte from Starbucks.;) That ice cream must taste wonderful.
I have never been to Starbucks! The ice cream was amazing and I have just blogged the recipe 🙂
I never knew chai meant teas either…. that is redundant! 🙂
very! and now I can understand why my Indian friends keep asking me if I want Chai 🙂
I’m sure those spices make a gorgeous ice-cream.
They do – I’ve just blogged the recipe 🙂
Hi Tandy, that is a nice recipe for chai masala & your ice cream looks divine. I never drink ordinary tea–i have to have-chai. Try making the chai with your masala, but use only fat free milk and no water–place the milk in a pot and add the chai masala, tea leaves and bring to a boil. Chai made this way is just excellent
thank you so much for sharing that with me Usha, I will make some more of the masala and give it a try 🙂
Hi Tandy!
One question, what kind of ice cream did you use? And, how did you blend it? (Ok, two questions)
Thanks 😉
Hi there – I have posted the recipe for the ice cream as I make my own 🙂
Did not know chai already meant tea–I’ll have to stop automatically saying chai tea now!
I also have to do the same 🙂