Tandoori Chai Recipe

Tandoori chai or kulhad chai is a unique Indian tea prepared in a special way. The good old masala tea is poured in a super hot clay pot or kulhad from a height to infuse the tea with earthy smoky flavor and also to make it frothy.

It is super easy to make this tandoori chai at home and here is how to make it.

For more tea recipes or chai recipes please check adrak chai, masala tea, pudina tea, chocolate tea, gud ki chai, cutting chai, chai hot chocolate recipes. Can’t you tell I love my tea already 🙂

I am an ardent coffee fan but come monsoons, I crave for a good cup of tea especially in the evenings. To keep it interesting I make different varieties.

Sometime back my friend from Pune sent me a video of making tandoori chai. It is prepared and served in a shop called chai la. She said I may find the preparation unique and interesting.

Indeed it was a very interesting video and I immediately tried at home. It was love at first sip:) It was so delicious and we have been enjoying kulhad tea at home every now and then these days.

It tastes so good and warming on cold day. The flavor and taste is simply addictive 🙂

What Is Tandoori Chai?

Tandoori chai also known as kulhad tea is a regular Indian tea served with a twist. You basically prepare adrak wali tea or masala chai and pour it in a very hot clay pot. This will infuse a nice subtle earthy taste and smoky flavor to the tea. When poured from a height you can also create a dramatic froth.

You can serve this tandoori tea to guests and surprise them instead of regular tea. It is getting very popular in the local tea shops these days.

Tandoor means clay oven which can stand very high temperatures. In India we have these really popular tandoori recipes that everyone loves like paneer tikka, naan, tandoori roti etc.

This chai is yet another innovative addition to this recipes. Ever since I saw the video from chai la I have been making this at home very often. We are simply hooked 🙂 It tastes so good and comforting for the weather with or assorted pakora platter of palak, paneer, cashew, cheese & onion pakoda.

To make this delicious tea you do not need a tandoor or any special equipment. Just use any of those kulhads or matka used for setting curd. Do not use the painted or polished ones though.

You have to basically heat the earthen pot or kulhad on stove top until it almost turns black. Then pour the prepared ginger or masala tea into it.

Due to the heat in the pot, the tea will bubble and ooze out very fast while absorbing all the flavor of earthen pot. Remove the hot kulhad, transfer into serving cups and serve tandoori tea immediately.

This Tandoori Chai Is

Delicious & strong

Uniquely flavored with smoky taste

Easy to try at home

Perfect drink for rainy evening

To make tandoori chai at home you can use any of your favorite tea recipe. I have made both masala tea and ginger tea in this method and they turned out delicious.

We will use a small kullad or earthen pot to mimic the flavor and taste of tandoor or clay oven. Use a small pot that fits on your stove top for working easily. You can use small kulhad that comes with kulfi or curd if you have them. Do not use decorated ones just meant for serving though.

Ingredients

The ingredients you need for this tea are the same ones just like ginger tea or masala tea. You can even try pudina or chocolate tea or gud tea recipes for this technique.

All you need specially for this recipe are clay pot or matka or kullad.

So the ingredients for kulhad chai are milk, sweetener of your choice, loose black tea leaves, some grated ginger or tea masala powder.

You can use any of your favorite brand loose tea leaves or tea powder for this recipe. Just like that use any good brand tea masala powder or homemade ones.

Instead of tea masala powder you can just use some grated ginger and pounded cardamom.

How To Make Tandoori Chai

Take your earthen pot and clean it thoroughly. Rinse and completely wipe off the moisture. Place it in your stove top and heat it.

heat it from all sides until it turns bit black and becomes very hot. Do this side by side as you make tea to keep the kullad hot.

Next rinse and peel 1″inch ginger piece. Add into a mortar along with 3-4 cardamom pods. No need to remove the husk of the cardamom. Using a pestle crush them well.

Add this to 3/4 cup water and bring it to rolling boil.

Add 3-4 teaspoons dried tea leaves and simmer for 3-4 minutes.

Next add 2.5 cups boiled milk and sugar to taste. Simmer for 4 more minutes again.

While the tea is simmering remove the earthen pot that is heated carefully from the flame using tongs . Place the clay pot in a deep large bowl so that the tea will not ooze and spill out.

Now using a tea strainer strain the tea strainer.

And pour into the hot kullad placed inside a vessel from a height. It will bubble and ooze out very fast depending on how well you have heated the kullad.

Let it sit for a minute to absorb the smoky flavor. Remove the kullad carefully with a tong and transfer tea into serving glasses. Serve tandoori chai immediately.

How To Make It Vegan?

To make this recipe vegan just use almond milk or soy milk in place of dairy milk.

I hope you will try this tandoori chai recipe and enjoy as much as we did. Please give a star rating ★ in the recipe card below. Follow us on Pinterest , Instagram, Facebook   for more recipes and ideas.

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