Tired Of Washing Dirty Chai Pots Every Night

yes sneaky is the word that i forgot

 

When that happens, we usually work around.

Here is something that is safe, if your dH tends to leave milk pot on stove set at high, and you forget to sneak behind him to correct the problem.

Regular chai:​

Chai is made by bringing to gentle simmer a mixture of milk and water. This milk:water ratio is a personal preference. However, some fat in milk is required for a good foamy head on a chai that is well served. My preference is 2% milk 2 parts to 1 part of water from a bottle (not Tap). When about 2 to 3 cups of this mixture is simmering, one would swirl the pan gently to mix the meniscus scum with the rest of the body of the liquid, and add four teaspoons of TajMahal tea (or the equivalent from Srilanka). These teas are dark orange pekoe type teas. Produce dark decoctions for a milk-tea. When the tea granules (they do not look like tea leaves, but granules) hit the milk, there would be some effervescence. Swirl the pot and let it go back on the low flame. The milky-water will come back up in froth; when this happens lift the pot and swirl to subside the froth, and put the pot back on the flame. On a second froth, switch off the flame, and let the pot rest for about a minute. You would see the milk getting browner with the tea infusing into it. Lift, swirl and and use a tea strainer to filter the tea through to your drinking cups. If the tea strainer is held up about 6" high, the pouring itself would produce a gentle froth on the surface. Good enough to serve. Add hot water to the tea pot and pour the remnants of the tea through the strainer. This would completely remove all the spent tea from the pot and have it come together in the strainer, ready for the bin.

Microwave Chai:​

The same procedure when adapted to a microwave oven, makes the clean up a lot easier. the water:milk mixture would be taken in a large (4 cup) pyrex glass measuring cup, and put into the microwave for 5 to 6 minutes. Longer if it is a low wattage unit. One would see the milk simmering (when the microwave is on, there is a light on inside) and then boil up to the rim. Open the door of the oven when you see it boiling up (and note the time it took for the future reference). At this point, add the same amount of tea granules, same amount as before, stir with a spoon to mix, (take out the spoon), close the door back up, and run the microwave for 1 minute. Open the door, put a spoon into the tea-milk slurry and stir a few times with a spoon. Then close the door and do another minute, followed by stirring with a spoon. See if your tea is brown enough. When it is brown enough, take the pyrex beaker out, and proceed to strain the tea into cups to serve. Just like before, you'd hold up the beaker 6 to 9" higher to make a froth in the cup. The pyrex beakers have a "beak" to make pouring a stream easier. Place the cup in the sink when you do this, so that any spill can be easily managed.

The pyrex beaker is quite easy to wash clean.

 

Try 1/2 cup of water boiling in micro wave , add a pinch of soda bi carb and pour it on the said pots, let it soak and wash them last. It becomes easier. At least it will save bodily exertion, the other option being ceramic pots.

 

I make tea once or twice a day for 3 to 4 members..I live In India, have a gas stove and an induction stove too...
I understand the pain as I end up washing two steel pots and endless milk and curd vessels which are pretty messy...
I always use stainless steel utensils of 500 to 1 litre capacity to boil milk or tea..
My observations are that, when I prepare tea in a gas stove the , vessel becomes so more messy and stains re stubborn and tougher to clean..
Using a thicker bottomed vessel works better than a thin bottomed one..
I usually boil water on high temperature setting ( I use water: milk ratio as 1:1 or 1.25:1 ..I.e water quantity is same ornament slightly more than milk...) on induction stove along with grated ginger, tea masala, etc as required, after water started boiling I add tea leaves , sugar in required quantity and boil with tea leaves for 2 to 3 min, then I add the milk..after adding milk I reduce the temperature of induction stove to medium or slightly lesser till tea boils, I immediately switch off and filter the tea...
After having tea I soak the vessel in water in the sink..it’s mostly bottom of the vessel that has the brown residue which I can remove using steel scrubber..
I think, after so many months of not having domestic help, made me to optimize certain tasks..hehe..

 

In our case it is opposite. She would love high flame & I low. Patience patience OMG.

 

Milk just taken out from refrigerator and poured in a thin or thick bottomed containers to be boiled quickly in high flame lest the solids stick to bottom turns the milk smell smokey and curd made out of such milk is unpalatable.