For the holidays on a variety of menus I have often featured ‘Tea Nog’ which is a handmade eggnog made by replacing some of the base liquid with a slow cooked Masala Chai base. For an at home version, the Masala base can be blended with a good commercial egg nog, cooled double strength steeped Assam tea and optionally some Cognac, brandy, rum or bourbon. It is worth making a good sized batch of Masala base which can of course be used to finish with hot tea for Masala Chai, but also consider adding some to your pancake or french toast batter. Try using it as a base for home made ice-cream, creme brûlée or other custard. It’s fabulous added to a milk shake or frothed into hot coffee or espresso. Once you have that base tucked away, you’d be amazed what you might come up with to use it in.
Masala Chai Tea Concentrate
Equipment
- 1 Heavy stockpot Or slow cooker
- 1 Strainer
- 1 Large spoon
Ingredients
Slow Cook your Concentrate
- 1 each vanilla bean Consider using your pre-scraped 'used' beans
- 1 each orange zest only, in 2 to 3 inch strips
- 2 tablespoons black peppercorns cracked
- 2 tablespoons black peppercorns whole
- 5 slices fresh ginger quarter sized
- 2 tablespoons Allspice berries whole
- 3 each cinnamon stick
- 4 teaspoons anise seeds or 8 whole star anise
- 2 each bay leaves
- 4 teaspoons coriander seed whole
- 4 teaspoons clove whole
- 4 teaspoons cardamom pods
- 2 pinches saffron optional
- 1/4 cup sugar granulated
- 8 cups whole milk
- 4 cups half and half
- 1/4 cup tea leaves Assam or Nilgiri broken leaf are good choices
Finish your Tea Nog
- 1 quart Masala Concentrate
- 1 quart Egg Nog good quality, pasteurized
- 2 cups Assam steeped double strength and cooled
- 8 ounces cognac optional
- Nutmeg to garnish
Instructions
Slow Cook your Concentrate
- Combine all ingredients in a large heavy stock pot or slow cooker with the lid off.
- Heat to a simmer and keep at a bare simmer over the lowest heat possible for 5 hours. If using a stockpot, start on high and turn to low if the mixture starts to boil. Stir occasionally.
- After 5 hours stir in the tea leaves and cook for another hour.
- Strain, preferably into a stainless steel bowl or container. Place this container into a larger bowl or other container and fill the outside container with ice followed by a small amount of water. This ice bath will chill the mixture quickly.
- Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use. The quick cooling will extend the shelf life of your base which should last around 10 days.
Finish your Tea Nog
- Begin by blending 1 cup of the Masala base, 1 cup of your egg nog and 1/2 cup of the cooled double strength Assam tea.
- Paying careful attention to how much you use, add more of each to balance to your personal taste preference. When you are happy with the blend of Concentrate, eggnog and steeped tea, make a note for your next batch, or scale up immediately as desired. Add cognac (or other alcohol) to taste or serve as is.
- If you change to a different brand of eggnog, or cook a fresh batch of concentrate, verify your ratios with a small test drink before blending large quantities.
