Every Indian home has a different variation of masala tea--Mum's is different than mine, my various Aunties have different blends as well. To tell you the truth, my blend keeps changing depending upon my mood. If you've never made masala tea before, try this one (my current variant) and then change it to suit your palate.

Ingredients 180ml milk 180ml water 2 whole cardamom pods 5cm cinnamon stick 3 whole cloves 1 star anise 1 thinnish slice fresh ginger 2 whole black peppercorns 2 rounded tsp black tea

Putting it together:

• Lightly crush together the cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, star anise and peppercorns.

• Tip the contents into a small saucepan and add the remaining ingredients (milk, water, ginger and black tea). Bring to a boil and allow to steep to desired strength.

• Strain through a very fine mesh sieve into a pot or directly in to cups/mugs. Sweeten to taste with honey, sugar or vanilla sugar.

• This amount is enough for my favourite mug (about it holds the equivalent of a large Timmy's (medium coffee in the US)), but will do for two dainty cups.

Notes:

• Get a good black tea that you like to drink on its own (with milk and sugar): if you don't have any looseleaf on hand, use one sachet per person. If you are making this for more than two people, use one rounded teaspoon's worth of tea per person and adjust the spices accordingly.

• This recipe is made with two per cent milk. If you favour skim or one per cent, you may want to decrease the amount of water used and use more milk; conversely if you use homo (full-fat) milk you might want to use less milk and more water. If you only have pre-ground spices, you can use those, but be aware that they may not have the potency or pungency of whole spice.