Gita’s Nepali chia recipe

By Jeff Zeitler on Monday, May 4th, 2020

In our house, there are two beverages we’ll usually have each day.  Chia (also known as chai) in the morning and hard cider in the evening.  The hard cider is usually just me.  Gita’s main beverage is chia, which may as well be the national drink of Nepal.  I’m posting Gita’s recipe (first time ever recorded in history) for chia here today.

Ingredients:

2 cups water

1 cup whole milk

1 teabag of English breakfast or similar black tea

1 teaspoon loose leaf Darjeeling/ Ilam/ Shangri-la or other Nepali tea (can subsitute Red Label Indian tea if needed)

3 whole cloves

2 cardamom pods

1/2 cinnamon stick

1/2 inch piece fresh ginger

1 tsp. honey

Directions:

Boil the water in a pot on the stovetop.  Add the tea and let briefly steep.  Crush the spices (cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and ginger) with a mortar and pestle and add to the hot tea.  Stir.  Add milk and bring the tea back to a boil, while watching the pot.  As soon as the pot froths and looks ready to boil over, take it off the heat.  Add honey and serve.  That’s real Nepali chia!