Noon chai

Soda turns it burgundy, cold water holds the colour, and the milk makes it pink.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (whole milk).

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons gunpowder green tea
• 1 litre water
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 200 ml ice-cold water, to quench
• 600 ml whole milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 4 green cardamom pods, crushed
• 2 tablespoons slivered almonds

Method

1. SODA TURNS IT BURGUNDY, COLD WATER HOLDS THE COLOUR, AND THE MILK MAKES IT PINK. Its article sets out the sequence and the reason for each step, which almost no article here does: the tea is boiled WITH BAKING SODA UNTIL IT DEVELOPS A BURGUNDY COLOURATION, THEN ICE OR COLD WATER IS ADDED TO 'QUENCH' IT AND MAKE IT STAY THAT COLOUR. WHEN MILK IS ADDED, IT COMBINES WITH THE BURGUNDY TO YIELD ITS SIGNATURE PINK COLOUR. Three colours, in order, and each one is a step.
2. AND THE NAME IS SALT. The article takes NOON from several Indo-Aryan languages where it MEANS 'SALT' -- Kashmiri, Bengali and Nepali -- and notes that Kashmiri Hindus call the same drink SHEER CHAI, from the Persian for milk. A salted tea, not a sweet one.
3. GUNPOWDER TEA, WHICH IS ROLLED INTO PELLETS. The article specifies it: GUNPOWDER TEA (GREEN TEA LEAVES ROLLED INTO SMALL BALLS). The tight pellets stand up to the long boil that would destroy an open leaf.
4. BOIL THE TEA AND SODA HARD, AND WATCH FOR THE COLOUR TURN. Twenty to thirty minutes at a real boil, topping up the water as it goes. It goes from green to brown to a deep red-brown. One teaspoon of soda to a litre is enough; more makes it soapy.
5. QUENCH IT THE MOMENT THE COLOUR ARRIVES. Two hundred millilitres of ice-cold water thrown in all at once. This is the step that fixes the colour, and left boiling instead the brew goes muddy brown and no amount of milk will turn it pink.
6. STRAIN IT, THEN ADD THE MILK AND THE SALT AND BRING IT BACK TO A BARE SIMMER. Rather more milk than tea. The pink appears as it goes in.
7. THEN THE AERATING, WHICH IS THE LONG PART. Ladle a cupful out, hold it high, and pour it back; again and again. Its article describes exactly this -- LADLING OUT SOME OF IT AND POURING IT BACK INTO THE POT TO INCORPORATE TINY AIR BUBBLES INTO IT, A PROCESS THAT YIELDS A FROTH AND THAT MAY TAKE HOURS TO DO BY HAND. Five minutes gets a decent froth; the hours are for a wedding.
8. CARDAMOM AND ALMONDS IN THE CUP. Served hot and salty, which is a surprise the first time and the point of it thereafter.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes