A Day for Dhudhpatti (Milk Tea)

It's a slow one today.  No Ashes drama for another few days, no Pakistan for another 2+ weeks, and I don't have access to the TV today, so I can't watch the Bangladesh/Zimbabwe or India NZ ODI's.  Phooey!   There's not even any gossip.  Oh and it's too wet to go and play some gulli cricket.  Double phooey!

I'm going to continue with the tea theme I started yesterday.  We'll learn how to make a basic milk tea and how to serve it.   First of all, to make a proper milk tea, you need strong black tea.  You can use teabags, but leaf tea is better.  Assam leaves are the strongest and hold up to the milk well. 

You can use skim milk, but if you want the real, traditional rich and thick tea, you must use full-fat or homogenized milk. 

Okay.  In a large pan, pour about 4 cups of milk, and bring to a light boil or you can simply scald the milk.  Add 1 teaspoon of tea leaves for every cup ( use less if you like weaker tea) , and cook the tea in the milk for a few minutes, until you get a nice rich colour.  Strain the tea through a strainer while pouring into a teapot.  You don't want to leave the tea leaves in the teapot because it will make the liquid very very bitter.  Strain them out first!

Add sugar to individual taste.  On a cultural side note:  in Pakistan, the person who makes the tea also serves it.  This same person adds the sugar to the cup, pours the tea, stirs it and serves it to the guest.  A guest is not expected to pour their own tea! 

Furthermore, a pure milk tea is called Dhudhpatti, which translates to "milk and leaves".  It can also be called "Dhudhwalli chai".  If you go to a restaurant or a tea-bar in that part of the world, if you ask for "chai" you'll get a water tea with some hot milk on the side or a half/half mix. 

Right!  So while we're waiting for some exciting stuff to happen, I'll continue tomorrow with the tea theme, when we'll look at the different methodology of Moroccan teas.

Happy Cricket, and happy tea-time!