In an Indian household it is generally considered polite to love your meal so much that you can’t help but eat more than you ought to (‘FoOd is LoVE’ in India with a symbiotic relationship between the cook and the eater).
Indians like to show their appreciation for a meal well cooked; a little burp or a big belch after dinner is ‘thank you’ enough to the cook, demonstrating that you’ve enjoyed the feast you’ve just devoured.
And so, the continued daily-struggle with the often not so faint gurgling of your digestive juices is a common noise to behold. Not surprising then that the need for fast, effective solutions was born in India too. And, even if you haven’t overloaded on Indian food – a little help with digestion after any meal is often very welcome.
There are many culinary aids in India / used by Indians to help facilitate the process of digestion. Most of these are based on the use of spices to help release the gastric – well, lets stick with “tension”.
Fennel, Cardamom, Ginger, Gulcand (caramelized rose petals) – are all said to help ease the onward journey of your meal, and all are used with a thick hand throughout Indian cooking, particularly in post-meal aperitifs (digestifs of sorts). Often, funnily enough, these same spices are added onto a dessert – perhaps to help you squeeze a little more in!)
Many of these Indian digestifs revolve around the use of fennel. These beautiful delicate, green-brown striped seeds are actually the natural spice used in Gripe Water. Remember that from when you were little? Gripe water is given to babies to help ‘burp them’. It’s a happy, delicately aniseed flavor, with an ultra-sweet, heady aroma, that babies and adults alike usually lap up.
Across South Asia a paan is chewed on, particularly after a meal.
The thickly vined, bright green beetle leaves of a tailor-made paan are usually loaded with the aforementioned spices, especially cardamom and sweetened fennel seeds. They are often further sweetened with sugar and syrups, or laced with tobacco.
Adults in India can often be spotted chewing on a post meal paan, or at least seen with their cheek-of-choice convexed outward, as the stuffed paan leaf is nestled into one side of their mouth – allowing the juices to flow out gradually. A paan is never rushed. It’s sucked on and savoured by the paan’ee.
Paan wallahs are crucial in the process: they’re the guys who sit on street corners in little tobacco kiosks making up the paans fresh to order depending on taste rather than medicinal need: “Go easy on the fennel and heavy on caramelized rose petals” (apparently).
Paan can make your lips turn blood red as you chew if you opt for particular ingredients, with the release of its juices. There are an awful lot of blood-red stained walls and red splats on the roads in India from where the paan has been flobbed away. That a grievous paan-spitting-crime was committed is as evident as the splats of chewed-gum on the pavements in urban cities in the western world.
Though a paan is now common street food (apologies for the pun. paan. I mean pun!) – it actually began life in more regal surrounds, and has its thinking firmly rooted in traditional Ayurveda (the ancient Indian system of medicine).
If you’re not comfortable with digesting your meal by looking like you’ve gone 10 rounds with Mohamed Ali, there are other more elegant versions of the Indian digestif. One of the more common is the sweetened fennel seed mix. The mix is store-bought with a varied concoction of breath fresheners and herbal esophagus plungers (see above photo).
A handful of the stuff is swiftly, nay dextrously, whipped up and tossed into the mouth by Indians. It’s as skilled a trick as drinking water without your lips ever touching the sides of the communal glass or bottle. There should be an Olympics in neat Indian eating tricks.
Finally. Perhaps the most common digestif is the easiest and most globally recognized drink. Chai. (Not chai tea. No. Never say chai tea. That’s like “cappuccino coffee”. Nonsensical).
Chai is best translated as Spiced Tea. No “dip dip” tea bags here, but a tea that’s been slow cooked with spices and milk.
The beauty of Indian chai is that you can up (and down) each spice flavour to your taste, or indeed change the spice mix according to how the wind blows…
Chai can be more ‘medicinal’ if needed than described here below. If you have a cold or cough – add cloves, black pepper and black cardamoms to the mix.
So, here’s my daily chai fix. I don’t think about the daily benefits – it just tastes comforting after a meal. Before a meal. Indeed, any time of the day – just like a regular cuppa tea!
Crush all the spices in a pestle and mortar (including the chunk of ginger). Don’t worry about grinding it all to cinder – you just want to release some of the flavours.
Add the mushy mixture to boiling water in a sauce pan, and let the mixture bubble for a few minutes.
Add the tea bags and milk. Bring back to the boil and then allow the chai mixture to simmer on a slow heat for approximately 15 minutes.
Sieve if you feel the need to (I quite like finding a fennel seed in my chai!).
Serve hot. Breath easy. Peace.
I must try this after I find green cardamom pods. I love chai. Comforting. 🙂
🙂 hope you find them – a wholefood store or indian grocers should have them, if not your local supermarket. Thanks for visiting!
Where can I get proper Chai in London?!
I actually don’t know where you can buy it from I’m afraid in London. Maybe someone will post an answer here for you!
You can get it from Indian curry houses in Croydon, East Ham, Wembly or Hounslow. I have had from lots of these places. I can suggest shops in Hounslow as I used to live there but other places I know they sell but haven’t had it from there.
Zoe, try Borough Market .. I got some great Chai there last week.
Thanks for the visit on my blog! I love that you have vegetarian recipes as I am one!
Yum, yum, yum! Brings back fond memories of my favorite Tandoori restaurant during my university days. Thanks for the recipe & cultural insights 🙂
Very nice and relaxing!
Be great with one of your chocolate fudge brownies!
Thank you!!
Kindly,
judy
The chai recipe looks fantastic! Interesting post.
I really need to get into the habit of making ‘real’ tea like this.
Lovely pics! Thanks for sharing tips on how to facilitate the process of digestion. I usually take fennel tea but I did not know that ginger was also usefull.
Thank you so much 🙂
I love chai; thanks for the great recipe! I’ve made it before, but have never gone out of my way to find fennel seeds to add, but it seems like it’s worth giving that a try.
Very interesting reading all about paan and digestion, too– thanks for an informative post! : )
Thank you so much for the lovely comments. Definitely worth investing in fennel seeds, hope you find them and enjoy!
I love your history lessons along with your recipes, I’m learning so much! This sounds like a perfect after-dinner treat, definitely going to try it when the weather cools down. BTW: is there a specific type of tea I should use?
Hello! And how sweet of you to say that. I use my regular black tea – it works just fine 🙂
I so enjoyed reading this post. In school I had a good friend whose family was from India and enjoyed discovering so many new flavourful dishes at their table; it was a great time of life to be exposed to home-cooked meals from a culture so very different from my own. I later lived in the UK (right in London) for six years, and still miss the Indian food to this day!
Chai is a favourite of mine and I tend to make it regularly in the colder months, when I really want to have something simmering on the stove. Just smelling it is a wonderful experience. I’ve never included fennel seeds though, and must try my chai again with the addition of fennel!
Thank you for the lovely comments – hope you give the Indian food recipes a try to rekindle those memories!
Thank you for the background on all those interesting things I see Indians chewing on. The photographs are beautiful as well! I plan to try your recipe for chai tomorrow as I have all the ingredients on hand. (I regularly cook saag paneer and masala.)
Wonderful – that’s so great! Thank you for the lovely comments 🙂
I’ve made your chai tea three times now, and it is hands down the best cups of chai I have every had. Thank you for posting!!
Kiran you can also add a pinch of turmeric and Tulsi (basil) leaves to your tea, especially during change of season. This protects from viral infections 🙂
Thank you! I added mint the other day, just for an added boost – was good. I’ve been taking a pinch of turmeric with water twice a day to ward off infections – its a great idea to add direct to chai. Thank you for the health tips on your site too!
I love chai, we drink it all the time. Has to be with proper spices though, the teabags taste vile! More importantly, as a tea fanatic – I LOVE your pot 🙂
Ahh – the tea bag vs. loose tea debate 🙂 Thank you!
This is amazing! I’ve only recently started taking a real interest in Indian cuisine (i.e. non samosa/butter chicken etc ;)) and the complex combinations of spices is so fascinating!
Great post and lovely photography. We used to make chai quite a lot, and will definitely have to give your recipe a try.
Thanks for stopping by at my blog! 🙂
I love Chai, a lot, and not much places make this in Thailand.
Thank you for your recipe, now that I can make it at home 🙂
That’s really great – hope you enjoy it!
Just love the blog and of course pictures are truly awesome. keep posting!!
Thank you 🙂
Oh, that Tea Pot is my FAVORITE color. Thanks for stopping by Boomdeeadda
Thank you – glad you liked it 🙂
this looks great I love chai!!
This post makes me feel so peaceful. Keep posting please!
That’s a really lovely thing to hear! Thank you 🙂
Thank you so much for stopping by my blog so that I could discover yours! Your stories are wonderful – and I really look forward to trying some of your recipes. I’ll probably start with this incredible looking chai!
I really like the layout of your posts, I must try this Chai sometime!
I am SO going to make some of this Chai – sounds delish! Got to better than store bought stuff.
Chai tea is my absolute favorite! I have so many stomach issues all the time, I may have to try some of these…
Yum! This looks delicious! And the pictures are so good! Love the colors!!
That’s really nice of you to say, thank you!
LOVE your photography Kiran! Your posts are so colourful and full of life and promise! Thank you for liking my blog post, I will certainly be checking back with yours soon!
Janice
http://www.easytastyclean.wordpress.com
That’s so nice to hear! Thank you – glad you like it!
Have silly pre-diabetic types your side of the pond started drinking Bubble Tea?
Can’t say I know!
It sounds faddish and terrible – brewing tea and adding a handful of tapioca balls!
The chai recipe looks wonderful and I will be trying it straight-away! Also, I’m in love with that aqua teapot in the photo…it’s my absolute favorite color and the form of it is beautiful as well!
Thank you so much – a purchase from Nepal 🙂
Darn….a little far away from me!
Kiran – thanks for transforming my computer screen into a heady cup of your wonderful chai!
I have some fennel seeds beginning to dry up in my garden and will maybe add a few slices of fresh tumeric root I keep in the bottom drawer of my fridge along with my knobbly ginger.
And what’s the problem with cappuccino coffee anyway? Sometimes a little nonsensical hits the spot.
xjennifer
I love this recipe. I am a huge fan of Chai and you can never get a good one outside. Making it at home will be great, and your home will smell wonderful too. Thank you for the recipe.
That’s really great – thank you! Yeah the house always smells lovely with chai – enjoy!
Thank you 🙂
I love homemade chai since I can adjust the sweetness on it. Excited to give your recipe a go. Great post!
Thank you! You can indeed – hope you enjoy 🙂
love chai! grew up with lots of Indian friends and without being aware of it, adapted their headshake. 🙂 need to try this recipe. thanks too for visiting the blog!
Kiran, you take awesome pictures! That chai tea looks straight out of sunset magazine. Please tell me your secrets or some tips on taking such awesome photos. Camera? lighting? Angle? What’s the deal?
That’s really nice of you to say! Especially as yours are so lovely! I’m an absolute amateur of course. I use a regular small cannon digital camera. The photos from the last couple of posts I took outside in natural light. I take lots and lots of shots and hope for the best! Thank you for making my day 🙂
Of course 😉 Looking forward to seeing more fun pictures!!!
Love, love the turquoise teapot! thanks for the post.
SUCH BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS. I can’t get over it. And I love chai! This post is all-around awesome.
How flattering! Especially coming from someone who has such a gorgeous site. Thank you 🙂
I guess Indians and Bengalis have much in common. Especially when it comes to the food culture (amongst many other things of course). I drank chai for years but haven’t now for years. You’ve spawned me on to make me some again! Beautiful pictures by the way!
The very first time I ever made chai was a couple days after a yoga class, where it’d been served alongside some simple almonds. It’s one of my favorite food discoveries…ever. The intricate flavors melding with the flavor of the almonds is something that, to this day, I crave regularly. Thanks for your recipe, I will try it when the rest of the spices arrive!!
That’s so great – yeap – chai and almonds (peeled of course!) is one of life’s greatest food pleasures. So glad you’re going to try it out.
This is so great! Not to mention how beautiful your pictures are! Thanks for stopping by my blog – I’ll be back for more ideas!
That’s really kind – thank you 🙂
Nice pictures, and I love chai, will have to try out this recipe!
Hope you enjoy it – this weather is perfect for it!
It is still a bit warm in Texas, but looking forward to it in October 😉
Lovely pics! I’ll try your chai recipe pronto 🙂
Thank you so much – your drawings are amazing!
Thanks 🙂 I should update the gallery with the new ones, but I always forget. By the way, I did make a cup of chai following your recipe today. I didn’t have the fresh ginger and used the powder instead, I also had to substitute regular milk with almond milk, but the result was quite good. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
While trying to curb my excessive coffee consumption, I was introduced to Chai. I fell head over heels for it…instantly! I can’t wait to try your recipe. I am shamefully using “dip-dip” bags of Chai.
Happy Blogging!
THF
I love dip dip too! There’s a time and a place for everything 🙂 Hope you enjoy the chai!
Wow! I’ve looked for a great Chai recipe and now I found one! Thank you! I’ve never had Chai before, so I’m looking forward to trying this! 🙂
Hope you like it 🙂
This is fun! Glad to know a little bit about your culture.
Really like this article. The photography is amazing. Who would have thought tea could look so nice!
Lovely blog! Thank you for taking the time to “like” my post. Good luck with your business!–Melanie
I love chai (chiya). Btw, I noticed that the newspapers are from Nepal. Do you live there? I am from Nepal and felt so happy to read the texts in those newspapers 🙂
That was well spotted! Yes – the newspapers are from Nepal. I did live there for a while! I bought the teapot from there actually. A shop near Himalaya hotel in Kathmandu 🙂 ! Thanks for visiting, and reminding me of some nice memories. Your momo’s look great btw!
Ah, I’m crazy about Chai, always buy it from Pukka, never made it myself, but now I see this, I defenitely have to try!
Wonderful – hope you enjoy it! Thank you for visiting.
This is spectacular! Thank you SO much for putting it up! I can’t wait to try it out.
Thank you – really glad you liked it. Hope you enjoy making it 🙂
I’m sure I will. 🙂
Yum yum! This reminds me of my holiday in India. I miss proper chai so munch and I’ll definitely be using this recipe to bring back the memories.
Lovely photos. We have Indian friends and so have been privileged to have homemade chai. Now I have my own recipe. Thank you and thanks for stopping by my blog and liking my post on black forest biscotti, http://sustainabilitea.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/black-forest-biscotti/. If you make them, please let me know what you think of them. I have recipes for several other biscotti recipes on my site as well. Just use the pull-down categories and look for recipes. They’re so easy to make and SO good. Stop by anytime.
BTW, how do you get “Kirans Cooking Club” on your photos? I’d like to put something similar on mine but don’t know how to do it. Thanks for any help you can give me (or anyone else.)
Thank you so much for your message. I use picmonkey.com to add words to my photos. It’s a great site!
Thank you for visiting my blog – I am so glad to have found yours! I am just starting to experiment with cooking Indian cuisine and, after reading this Chai recipe (which sounds great) I can’t wait to see more!
That’s really kind – thank you 🙂 Hope you have fun with the recipes and enjoy the Chai! 🙂
Your chai sounds delicious Kiran, I will try making this later today for a bit of comfort whilst the rain pours outside 🙂
Thanks for visiting my new blog too! It’s so lovely to see that other bloggers have enjoyed reading my posts. I’ll be reading Kiran’s Cooking Club with interest from now on! x
Thank you! Same here – warming cuppa chai much needed! Great to hear from you – lovely blog!
Chai recipe followed yesterday and I must say, it was absolutely delicious so many thanks once again. The slight heat of ginger (I used dried ginger root) really warmed me up and the fennel and cinnamon gave it a lovely delicate sweetness.
It’s a lovely break in the day too taking 20 minutes to focus on preparing chai, have a stretch and daydream out of the kitchen window 🙂
That’s a really lovely image – thank you for sharing 🙂
I am currently ADDICTED to soy chai lattes and was thinking I should try making my own chai!! Funny I should chance upon this post! 😀 Thank you for visiting my blog and liking my post! Definitely gonna try this recipe out too. 😉
what an amazing explanation of the the different digestives… and I will be trying your chai… Indian food is my favourite cuisine… cheers.
This looks amazing! I love chai, so I’ll definitely have to try it out. Also, I just wanted to say that your blog setup and pictures are really beautiful!
Thank you! That’s really kind of you to say – your site looks great too 🙂
What a delight to start my day reading your post about chai, Indian way. Thank you very much, beautiful photos too. Love those spices, especially fennel (also as a vegetable). Indian food is simply delicious for all its various flavours. I use curcuma and ginger a lot, but also cinnamon, coriander and cardamom.
That’s wonderful – thank you 🙂 Hope you give it a go and enjoy!
Love your pictures! So beautiful!
Great post! Do you mind if I share on my blog (salt’d caramel)?
That would be great – if you link it back to me, or re-blog?
Thanks for checking out ohlidia.com. I love Indian food and cook it myself after having followed classes with a wonderful Indian woman in her home. You pictures are great!
I can’t wait to try this recipe – I love Chai but have never had much success on my own. Very interesting post!
That’s really nice to hear – hope you have more success now 🙂
This is the first real chai recipe I’ve ever read. Thank you. And lovely photos!
That’s really kind! Your blog is really lovely 🙂
Aw, thank you. Likewise!
Beautiful post! Can’t wait to try this recipe and share with family!
Yum! I’m going to have to pick up the ingredients to try this, it looks amazing!
What a beautifully written post and absolutely gorgeous photos! Can’t wait to make your chai!
Thank you so much – your site is lovely!
Thank you! Your site is lovely 🙂
Thank you so much!
beautiful pics! This looks delicious!
Gorgeous pictures. I made your chai this morning using my homemade almond milk, and it was delicious–just the right amount of spice and sweetness. Back to your beautiful pictures, can you tell me what type of lens you’re using? Thanks, Kiran! Be well.
That’s so nice to hear! Thank you for the feedback. I’ve used almond milk too – it works well!
Thank you for the complements on the photos – I just use a very small compact camera – it’s a Cannon if that helps, but no fancy lenses I’m afraid, and natural light 🙂
best wishes
K
No fancy lenses – but I do use http://www.picmonkey.com ! I love the filters and the adjustments on this site you make on your photos. Hope that helps 🙂
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This is wonderful – thank you for the great complement!
Sounds delicious. Can you make it decaf?
Thank you! I’m sure it’ll work just as well.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you!
From an english Chai addict!
I having been making this almost weekly since you originally posted it. It is my favorite treat for myself. Today I used Earl Grey tea and added coriander seeds as well. 🙂 Yummm. Thank you.
Thank you for stopping by Life Through the Kitchen Window and liking my post about panchphoran. I’m a novice at Indian cooking, and it’s a delight to acquaint myself with your blog. This post about chai and other delights was a captivating read. I look forward to following your blog and learning more!
That’s really kind – really liked your post on panchphoran! thanks for stopping by too 🙂
Thanks for stopping by my blog :). Tried this out yesterday and loved it. The perfect way to mellow out after a long day at work. Making another cup today, bubbling away on the stove as I type!
Nuara
p.s. loose leaf, of course!
Thank you so much – enjoyed your blog too and looking forward to following! So nice to hear that you are enjoying the chai 🙂
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Kiran what kind of tea do you use in your chai? Any kind in particular?
Hi thanks for reaching out – I just use regular black tea (English Breakfast)!
I love tea! But I never had it made this way. I will need to try it as it looks wonderful! Especially now that the weather is cooler.
i love chai!!! and i’ve been wondering how to home make it – and here is my answer! thank-you – it looks soo good! 🙂
Thanks so much for this Chai recipe. I cannot wait to try it!
Ahh! I see the ingredient I’ve been missing: fennel! Thank you. I couldn’t live without chai. I drink it every morning when I blog and every afternoon when I need to put my feet up a moment. Beautiful images!
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Lovely pictures and such an interesting read!! I love chai but I’ve never taken it upon myself to make my own mix. I’ll definitely be trying this soon.
Wonderful – thank you, I hope you enjoy it!
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I’ll never get ’round to trying this at home but sounds wonderful- my compliments on your beautiful photography and telling a great story!
Hi Kiran, thanks for liking my blog post. I love the tea pot in the photos in this post, where did you get it? I want one!
Sally xx
I was looking for a genuine chai masala and here it is! Thanks! Lovely pictures!
Wow
Kiran the photos are stunning. Also love the “Chai Tea” bashing, given that I used it in my blog name as a parody! Gotta try your chai recipe this weekend, need to buy some fennel.
I keep my chai simple because I drink so much of it : Cardamom Powder + Ginger with 2% Milk and Truvia.
Love your blog.
-R
🙂 Thank you so much! really appreciated