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05 February 2011

Nepal #12: Mmmmm Chiya!

As requested, a post about the delicious beverage that is omnipresent in Nepal. We had this multiple times a day for three weeks, and I still loved it at the end. I think that's a good sign...

Here's the step-by-step process that our host father (Rajendra-dai) taught us. I brought the tea and powdered milk back from Nepal, but I'm hoping that I can get a hold of something similar in the US. Powdered milk is powdered milk, right?

Step 1: The fresh spices are my favorite part of this recipe. Bring a saucepan of water (~ 4 mugs worth) to the point where it's just about to boil -- when spirals of bubbles start to come to the top, but it's not rolling yet. Crush ~ 5 cardamom pods between your fingers and drop them in the water followed by a few cloves.


Step 2: Bring the water to a boil and add a few tablespoons of the powdered milk mix (pictured below). The water will get frothy and try to boil over, so make sure to keep stirring.



Step 3: Once the milk is all mixed in, add a few tablespoons of chiya. The chiya seems to be crumbled up black tea leaves, so it kind of looks like coffee. I'm hoping that just using black tea will produce the same results, so stay posted for an update about that! After this step the liquid quickly becomes a beautiful rich brown color:


Step 4: At this point the tea is full of all kinds of crunchy things that you probably wouldn't want to eat, so the next step is to pour it through a very fine strainer. I went on an adventure in Kathmandu specifically to find this strainer, but it ended up being a 1-minute-adventure because Urja, the trek leader, came along with us and found one in the first store we went to.


Step 5: Enjoy! Preferably sitting next to a campfire watching the sun set next to a snow covered mountain. Or just in your apartment in chilly Ithaca, NY with a good friend!


3 comments:

Tammela said...

Mmm, that sounds delicious. Like chai, basically -- spiced black tea. You could probably achieve the same effect using real milk as opposed to powdered, right?

Maya said...

You're prettyyyy. And this sounds so delicious, can you make it for me sometime soon? :)

Rabindra Parajuli said...

Chiya Kasto Chha Nena?

.....Dherai Mitho Chha!