Cooking Travels

Dima’s post makes me think that while Pakistani and Indians are really fond of tea and our day never starts or ends without it, we still have to learn to appreciate it as a custom like the Chinese.

The good part is that we’ve experimented with tea like we have with rest of our food and now you can find many types of teas in Pakistan and India. There is Kahwa (Green Tea), the Black Tea, Kashmiri tea, Masala Tea etc. etc. There is one more thing that is different from most of the countries. We add milk to our tea. Only green tea is taken without milk. I have yet to hear from Pakistanis and Indians who take their teas without milk.

The origin of Kashmiri tea must be Kashmir as it sounds (I am not exactly sure though). The tea leaves are the same that are used for green tea. They are found in abundance in Himalayan regions (China, Pakistan, Nepal, India,  Bhutan) and are mentioned here. Following is the recipe of Kashmiri Chai (Chai means Tea in Urdu/Hindi) or generally known as pink tea:

Ingredients

1. Water – 2 cups
2. Green Tea leaves – 2-3 teaspoons
3. Salt and/or Sugar (according to your taste)
4. Green cardamoms – 4
5. Milk – 2 cups
6. A pinch of Baking soda or Saffron (It will give pink color to the tea)
7. Crushed dry fruits (Almonds and Pistachios preferably)
8. Cream (optional)

Green Tea leaves

Recipe

1. Pour 2 cups water in a pot and make sure that the pot you are using has a broad base. Crush green cardamoms in your hand until seeds come out.
2. Add both the seeds and shell in the water. Add green tea leaves.
3. Also, add baking soda or Saffron. Using soda or saffron will give pink color to the tea.
4. Let the mixture simmer and boil for about 20 minutes until the water is reduced to half.
   

   Top picture: "After adding ingredients" Bottom: Simmer and Boil

5. Now add two cups of normal water while it is boiling. Stir the mixture.
   

   Adding more water to the boiling mixture

6. After adding water, let it simmer for 5-10 minutes. On the side start boiling the milk (you can add more cardamoms in the milk, if you want)
   

   Keep stiring the mixture

7. Add the tea mixture to the milk. Also, add sugar and salt or only salt or only sugar. Let it boil again. The more you boil, the stronger the tea will be.
   

   Add tea mixture to the boiling milk and watch it turn pink

8. Finally, take it off the stove and pour it into cups. Add crushed dry fruits into cups and enjoy the tea
   

   Pink Tea without crushed dry fruit

   

   With dry fruits

Traditionally, the tea is taken with salt rather than sugar. But it depends upon the taste of the individual. This tea is specially for people who live in cold climates. The tea and the dry fruits themselves provide warmth in a severe cold.