Vegan Tulsi Masala Chai Recipe with Garden Holy Basil Plants
This comforting, creamy, and warmly-spiced masala chai has the added charm of sacred tulsi holy basil. And you can even grow this herb yourself! This is truly a special drink to warm your heart.
Ingredients
- 20 pods (4 g) green cardamom, crushed, or seeds removed from pod
- 8 inches (8 g) cinnamon sticks, 20 cm
- 30 whole (4 g) cloves
- 3 teaspoons (6 g) fennel seeds
- ¼ teaspoon (2 g) black peppercorns, about 20 whole peppercorns
- 6 whole (8 g) star anise
- 3 2-inch pieces (80 g) fresh ginger, (7.6 cm x 5 cm) peeled and thinly-sliced
- 4 cups (40 to 50 g) fresh tulsi leaves, loosely-packed and lightly crushed, or 1 ⅓ to 1 ½ cups (13 to 17 g) dried tulsi leaves
- 2 ½ cups (600 ml) water
- 4 tablespoons (15 g) loose Assam tea leaves, or Darjeeling or Nilgiri, or Rooibos for caffeine-free
- 3 5-inch vanilla beans, or 2 8-inch (20 cm) vanilla beans, seeds scraped and pods reserved, or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons (4 g) nutmeg, freshly-grated or ground
- ¼ cup (60 g) jaggery, packed, or use granulated, brown, muscovado, or coconut sugar
- 2 cups (480 ml) non-dairy milk, I use full-fat oat milk, but any non-dairy milk will work
Instructions
Toast the spices:
- To a medium saucepan, add the cardamom pods or seeds, cinnamon sticks, cloves, fennel seeds, black peppercorns, and star anise.
- Over low heat, toast the spices for about 5 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until they become fragrant and begin to slightly darken.
Add ginger, tulsi, and water:
- To the pan with the toasted spices, add the sliced ginger and the lightly crushed tulsi leaves.
- Add the water and bring to a gentle boil. Once the water is boiling, turn off the heat, put the lid on the saucepan, and steep the tulsi and spice mixture for at least 30 minutes.
Add tea and nutmeg:
- After steeping, return the mixture to a gentle simmer. Stir in the tea leaves and freshly-grated or ground nutmeg. Allow to simmer for 3 to 4 more minutes.
Strain the tea:
- Using a fine-mesh sieve or a colander lined with a few layers of cheesecloth, Strain the chai. Press on the solids to extract as much liquid as you can. Discard the solids.
Sweeten and add milk:
- Wash the saucepan to remove any clinging bits of spices, and return the strained tea to it.
- Stir in the jaggery or other sweetener, and add the non-dairy milk. Stir in both the scraped vanilla bean seeds and pods. Making sure not to boil, warm the chai gently over low heat until the jaggery is dissolved and the chai is heated through.
Serve:
- Remove the vanilla bean pods and discard. Whisk the mixture until the vanilla beans are evenly spread throughout. Pour the tulsi masala chai into cups. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
This recipe yields about 960 mL, enough for 4 servings (around 240 mL each).
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!