Once I traveled to Kashmir to analysis my newest e book, On the Himalayan Path, I ate so many nice dishes: all the pieces from the thick, spice-laden flatbread referred to as bakarkhani to the richly flavored gushtaba (tender lamb or mutton meatballs cooked in an attractive yogurt-based gravy). However it wasn’t simply the meals—the drinks additionally captured my coronary heart.
Kashmir is a area that’s recognized for its tea, and I fell in love with one specific tea-based drink that’s in contrast to something I’ve had earlier than—midday (a.okay.a. sheer) chai—which is uncommon due to its candy, salty taste and its rosy coloration. It’s a drink that Kashmiris get pleasure from a number of instances a day,particularly at breakfast: generally by itself, generally with a sizzling flatbread.
Kashmir has lengthy been a part of an necessary commerce route, and a few consider that midday chai first got here to the area from Yarkand in Turkestan the place atkan chai (tea made with butter, salt, and milk) was in style. Others, nonetheless, suppose that it arrived with the 14th century Persian missionary Mir Syed Ali Hamdani who arrived in Kashmir with a whole lot of craftsmen and artisans—in addition to with midday chai, which he probably acquired a style for as he traveled via Central Asia.
I had my first style of midday chai at tearoom Chai Jaai in Srinagar: a placing modern constructing whose partitions are handpainted within the conventional Kashmiri naquashi type. Right here, proprietor Roohi Nazki serves conventional Kashmiri delicacies in an English tearoom–type setting—together with midday chai, which I tasted alongside makai tsot, the maize-flour flatbreads often known as makki ki roti.
The very first thing you’ll discover about midday chai served within the conventional approach is the way it’s steeped in a samovar, an ornate steel pot. The second factor you’ll discover is its coloration. A pink tea isn’t one thing you see day-after-day.
A easy pinch of baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) is what creates the placing coloration of midday chai. When added to inexperienced tea, the baking soda (together with the oxidation of the tea leaves) turns the water from clear to reddish-brown. Add chilly water and milk and also you’ll see the colour altering earlier than your eyes. It’s fantastic for these cooler winter months.
Right here’s find out how to make Midday Chai:
In a medium pot, convey 2½ cups chilly water to a boil, then add 2 tsp. inexperienced tea leaves, 1 tsp. crushed inexperienced cardamom seeds, and 1 pinch of baking soda. Cowl with a lid and simmer for 10–quarter-hour. Add one other ½ cup chilly water, then pressure, return the liquid to the pot, and add 1⅔ cups complete milk. Deliver again to the boil. Hold cooking for one more 10–quarter-hour, then add 1 tsp. salt. Serve instantly, or preserve in a Thermos flask to drink later. In case you’d like, high with chopped almonds. This makes sufficient for 2.
Tailored with permission from On the Himalayan Path: Recipes and Tales from Kashmir to Ladakh by Romy Gill, printed by Hardie Grant.