Homemade Chai in a dorm Room

with Chef Peter Swift

After successfully making applesauce in my dorm room, I wanted to move on to bigger and better things.  Well, at least better things.  So after going home for a weekend, I brought back my "Chai Spice Kit" and decided I'd try to make some homemade chai in my hotpot.  If you aren't familiar with chai, I suggest visiting this website so you don't feel like an idiot while reading this.  Educate yourself, and then go down to your local coffee shop, order a chai latte, come back and then read this.

Anyhow, using only a hotpot and my collection of spices, I successfully made a couple of quarts of chai.  It was delicious, but not up to my usual standard, so I might have to try this a few more times.  Here are some pictures the adventure that is "cooking in a dorm room."

I didn't have to make my own chai - since I have quite a collection of chai in "bag form" in my room.  I count five different varieties there...I had more, but I already used the chai-latte mixes.  Still - these don't compare to the real deal.

Once again I used an ESPN (esspin) magazine as my cutting board.  However, I do have two worthwhile knives this time that I brought from home.  Still - they are way too small!  I should have brought some larger ones - it would have made the chopping process much easier.

At one point I stacked all my spices into a beautiful stack that would look great in a cooking magazine, but then someone distracted me and I forgot to take the picture.  So here's a bunch of the spices I have...and a random cocktail shaker.  Cinnamon sticks somehow didn't make it into this picture.

Here is a bowl of my chopped up spices.  I see fennel seeds, whole clove, cardamom pods, cardamom seeds, chopped up nutmeg and torn up cinnamon sticks.  Normally I would have the scrapings from inside a vanilla bean, but since I'm a cash-poor college student, all I had was the 99 cent vanilla extract from "County Market."

Here is the hotpot chugging away.  I put all the spices in and I added some powdered cinnamon and powdered nutmeg as well.  It looks sort of gross at this point, but basically all you do is add the spices to water and simmer for a while.  Though simmering in a hotpot usually means "boil" "stop boiling" "boil" "stop boiling" - there is not really a "simmer" option.  The aroma from this was quite pleasant.

After the chai was done "simmering" I had to find a way to strain out all the chunky spices.  I used the "Dunkin' Donuts" jar from the applesauce adventure and a rubber band and a coffee filter.  I had to poke small holes in the coffee filter because I was impatient.

Sadly, that's where the pictures end. However, there was a lot more to do.  Once I had strained the chai, I threw in four or five tea bags (regular black darjeeling style tea) and let it steep for a while.  Normally I use loose black tea, but I didn't have any, so I stuck with teabags.  Then I added some sugar (too much actually - it was sickeningly sweet) and a lot of milk.  It was probably around a quart and a half of water and a quart of milk.  The chai was enjoyed by all and was great hot or cold. It wasn't ideal, but then again, it *was* cooked in a dorm bathroom in a hotpot (don't worry, I sanitized the counters first).

For any of you potential dorm-room chai makers, here is my quick and easy chai recipe:

• 5 or 6 Cardamom Pods (chopped in half)
• Vanilla extract (or vanilla bean)
• Whole nutmeg (chopped)
• Cinnamon Sticks (2 or 3)
• Fennel or Anise seeds (about 2-3 teaspoons)
• Bay Leaves (1 or 2)
• Peppercorns (maybe 1/2 teaspoon)
• Whole Cloves (four or five)
• Ground Cinnamon and nutmeg to taste
• 2 TBSP loose black tea or several teabags.

Boil all the spices in 1.5 quarts of water for about 15 minutes.  Add the tea and let it steep for another 10 minutes.  Strain the spices out and throw away.  Add a half cup of honey or sugar and about a quart of milk.  Drink hot or cold - it's great either way.

Other foods cooked in a hotpot:

[Applesauce] [Chai] [Rice Pilaf (coming soon!] [Italian Meal]