Simple, practical, and full of everyday flavour, Vegan Masala Chai is a vegan, vegetarian Indian drinks made with water, ginger, and green cardamom in about 10 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 2 minutes
  • Cook time: 8 minutes
  • Total time: 10 minutes
  • Yield: 2 small cups
  • Category: Drinks
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 1 cup water (240 ml/8 oz)
  • 1/2 inch ginger (grated, or to taste)
  • 3 whole green cardamom (slightly crushed)
  • 2 black peppercorns (slightly crushed)
  • 2 whole cloves
  • 1 teaspoon loose tea leaves (black tea, I used society brand)
  • 1/3 cup cashew milk (80 ml, unsweetened, I love "forager" brand cashew milk)
  • sugar, jaggery (to taste)

Method

  1. Crush the cardamom, peppercorn slightly using a mortar and pestle. Add water to a pan and then add the grated ginger, cloves, crushed cardamom and peppercorn. Let it come to a boil on medium heat. Once it comes to a boil (it takes few minutes to come to a boil) then let it boil for 1 more minute. The color of the water will change at this point as all the spices seep through it.
  2. Add the loose tea leaves and let it boil for 1 more minute. Meanwhile heat cashew milk in another pan or using a steamer. You don't need to boil it, just heat it up.
  3. After 1 minute, remove the pan from heat and strain the chai into a cup using a strainer. Also strain the hot cashew milk through the same strainer. Now, add sugar to taste, stir well and serve hot!

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.