Basil Flavoured Indian Tea or Tulsi Chai

"Ecstasy is a glass full of tea and a piece of sugar in the mouth"

Basil Flavoured Indian Tea or Tulsi Chai

There are times when you need to just unwind, put everything behind you and just relax. Who is your best friend in need at this time, who/what better than a simple, yet delicious cup of tea.

This one does the trick for me, if you have not tried it, see if it works for you. It is ready in 10 mins so no hard work here :)

• Basil Flavoured Indian Tea or Tulsi Chai:
  
  Ingredients:
  
  2 tea bags of your favourite tea or 2 teaspoons of loose tea (I use decaf PG teabags)
  1 cup water
  1 cup milk (I use semi-skimmed but any will work)
  5 leaves of basil
  3 teaspoons of sugar (this should make 2 to 3 cups so this can be altered to suit your taste)
  
  

Recipe:

1. Bring the water and milk to the boil. Add the tea/teabags and sugar.

2. Rip the basil with your fingers and add to the tea, while it comes to the boil.

3. Stir well. Once boiled, lower the heat to simmer for 5 mins.

4. Take off the heat, when it is a nice dark color, strain into a cup.

Enjoy!

Tips:

• I find that if you add the same amount of water and milk produces a lovely creamy tea. You could alter this to suit your taste. Some friends I have use condensed milk instead.

• Indian tea (unlike western tea) is boiled and simmered. You could simply boil and strain but most Indians do like the traditional stronger flavour and simmer it for a few mins. How do you like yours?

Hard/Easy to make: Very easy
Preparation time: 0 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins

I served this tea recently at a ‘Get Together’, where we had 4 families that are close friends coming over. The tea went so well with some ‘Spicy Filo Parcels’ and hot ‘Best ever Chocolate Chip Cookies’. Check out my recipes for these and impress your friends too!