Emirati recipe

How to make Karak chai

Name: Karak chai
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Emirati
Ingredients: 300 ml water; 2 heaped teaspoons strong loose black tea; 3 cardamom pods, lightly crushed; 150 ml evaporated milk or whole milk; 2 to 3 teaspoons sugar; A few saffron threads (optional)

شاي كرك

From the Indian subcontinent; now sold at cafeterias across the Emirates

Commons: karak tea cup — Photo: Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka, CC BY-SA 4.0

Black tea boiled hard with milk, sugar and cardamom until strong and creamy. Karak means 'hard' or 'strong'. It came to the Gulf from the Indian subcontinent and is now sold in small cups at cafeterias everywhere.

Serves 2 15 min

Ingredients

300 ml water
2 heaped teaspoons strong loose black tea
3 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
150 ml evaporated milk or whole milk
2 to 3 teaspoons sugar
A few saffron threads (optional)

Method

Bring the water to the boil with the cardamom and the tea, and let it boil for 3 minutes until very dark.
Add the milk, sugar and saffron and bring back to the boil. Let it rise up the pot, lower the heat, and repeat two or three times.
Strain into small cups and drink hot.

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