Bring water to rolling boil and pour over tea leaves. Some import shops carry ground tea spices which may be added to the pot with the tea, but you can do just as well by tossing into the teapot the spices listed above. Be cautious with the anise and fennel seed unless you're sure you like their flavours. The spices will of course emerge more prominently if you boil them in the water for a few minutes before adding it to the tea.

Brew the tea for just 5 minutes - no more, no less - and strain immediately into a quart/litre sized teapot. Add very hot milk and a little sugar.

The popular Indian blend of tea is 2 parts Darjeeling and 1 part Assam, but either may be used alone if you remember that Darjeeling is very strong. Ceylonese tea is especially good.

"Found these recipes in an old book of my mum's from the 70's (her vegetarian phase as she calls it...) - 'Laurel's Kitchen - A Handbook for Vegetarian Cookery and Nutrition'. Lots of good, simple, interesting food!"