Shaax (Somali Chai)

Shaax (Somali Chai)

March to September, each single year, the Indian Ocean kicks itself into gear as the monsoon season begins in various parts of the East. Months and months of irregular wind, which might or might not bring tons of rain, forces the dhow culture out of work. Boats are parked on the shores, and folks just wait for God to lighten up their atmosphere.  And, of course, fish is a bit more expensive during that time.

In Mogadishu, the monsoon manifests itself through the rainiest months of May, June, and July.  To celebrate the beginning of the dhow season, the land that had just become ripe for planting, and surviving the storms, the Somali celebrate with the dabshid, which normally takes place at the end of July.  The dabshid, which is a festival of mock fighting and jumping over fires, is very similar to the one that takes place in Zanzibar. In their Mwaka Kogwa, the Zanzibars also have their mock fights and make a fire. 

Of course, I have had the Somali chai many times before. But it was during one of the dabshid celebrations that I realized all of its history. We had just finished the mock fights in late afternoon, had become tired and hungry, and were about to leave when we saw an old lady making the tea. Folks surrounded her, listening to her as she traced every part of its ingredients to its historical place. 

“This heyl, you see,” she said, holding up a bag of cardamom, “it originally comes to us from southern India,” she smiled, as she grabbed a bag of cloves. “This dhagayare,” she noted, holding out one piece. “Look at it, that is why we call it small-eared,” caressing the ends of the flower buds, the crowd laughing. “Indonesia, that is who we have to thank for this one.”

You could see the crowd didn’t know that about the cloves, because as far as we knew this was a Zanzibari plant. Of course, Zanzibar is the largest producer of cloves in Africa but she was right that it was from Indonesia. But that wasn’t really what shocked the crowd the most about the cloves, it was actually when she pulled out a cigarette.

“No, no,” she dismissed them with a hand wave, “I will not smoke it, I’m just here to educate. This is a kretek, a kind of cigarette that is highly popular in Indonesia. Looking at it one would never know it was made of cloves,” she sneaked in, leaving the attentive crowd rattled up, half laughing while others were left with their mouths open. “Yeah, it’s true. Strange things.”

She also discussed the nutmeg and sugar having their roots in Indonesia, how the cinnamon reached us from China, and the ginger coming to us from India. She discussed how the marriage between the dhow and caravan industries created various chais around the monsoon nations, as they pretty much were dealt with the same fate. When you couldn’t venture into the sea, you couldn’t deliver goods on the camels either-- the same wind affected both; you could be buried in water or sand, your choice.

That afternoon, the shaax became much more than tea. It suddenly interested me, my curios soul, and I began to pay attention whenever anyone was making it. Of course, I always noted how different it was from black tea, the bigeys, of which its plain reddish color I thought was boring next to the colorful chai. Now I had all the reasons in the world to learn how to make it.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup of reduced-fat cow milk

1 cup of water

1 tbsp of loose black tea

3 tbsp of brown sugar

1/4 tsp of cardamom

1/4 tsp of nutmeg

1/4 tsp of cloves

1/4 tsp of cinnamon

1/4 tsp of ginger

METHOD: 

As colorful as it is, it really is one of the easiest things to make-- but only once you master the ingredient portions. Then it’s simple: add everything together and bring it to boil. Be very careful because the chai will overflow if you don’t remove it from the fire right away when it comes to boil. If you want it to have a “burn” taste, you can keep putting it back. Each time you put back, it will have a noticeable different taste. If you put it back more than five times, your chai might become a bit too different from the Somali Shaax!