Improvisation is the mother of invention.

A friend from Canada dropped in on me, quite sick.

I know my chicken. He needed a stiff single malt, but that was out of the question. He wanted tea.

What was the next best thing? A hot toddy. That way you can have your tea and your whiskey too.

I didn’t have Bourbon in the house, but I had a few different Scotch’s. Most of them, too precious for a toddy…but why not? Medicine is medicine. I didn’t have cloves on hand either, but I did have my boyfriend’s hand-ground chai masala mix. I thought, why not?

We were given a special five spice recipe from our Gujarati friend, Rajiv in India a few years ago. I love blending cultures and it struck me that the peppery blend could be quite good for what ails.

Chai Hot Toddy Recipe

Here’s what you’ll need:

1 cup hot water
1 cup spirit of choice (Bulleit Bourbon, Brandy, Chivas, Rum)
1 heaping tsp of raw honey
1/2 tsp of secret chai (clove, black pepper, dried ginger, cinnamon, green cardamom)

It would also be a great holiday drink with the addition of hot milk (keep it vegan with almond or rice milk).

Stir Well. Drink Up! Sweat! Feel dandy!

Then, you could easily think you are on the streets of Pushkar. But don’t expect the hard stuff.

Namaste!

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Editor: Rachel Nussbaum

Photo: Peggy Markel