Wuyi Oolong Lamb

Lamb Tea.

I was super excited to get an oolong tea in my Sips by box. I've been wanting to cook a savory dish with a good oolong tea. I've experimented with chicken, shrimp and tuna. I had some lamb in the freezer and decided to give it a shot! 

First things first, white2Tea has such cool packaging :) The clover patch tea that was in my box is described as having an intense floral fragrance and a mineral mouth feel. Growing up in an Iranian household, lamb is very familiar to me and I like it very much. Lamb is very intense because it's rich and fatty. Although this oolong is also described as intense I thought that the floral fragrance and it being a rock tea would be a great addition to the lamb. 

I went back to my roots a bit and combined some of my favorite flavors for this marinade. Turmeric and dill are central to many Iranian dishes and I love how they taste on meat. 

This tea can be steeped 5x so after my steep for the marinade I decided to steep the leaves a few more times for myself! P.s. this GORGEOUS, hand painted dish is something I scored in Amalfi. It's actually an olive dish but I thought this was a great way to show off it's beautiful design. 

A warning about turmeric which you may or not know: do not overdo it. Turmeric has become really trendy due to it's health benefits but on meat too much can be a bad thing. It has a potent flavor and you don't want it to take over all the other flavors! I used a bit more than a teaspoon in my recipe but I think that's a good amount to use. 

This is a quick rice called "cateh" that I eat with most of my meals. I think I'll share the recipe one day but because I don't do much measuring except with my eyes and nose it's hard to explain how to cook it!. Also, I know this is like the third recipe I've posted with green beans. I don't just eat green beans, I actually love all vegetables it's only a coincidence! :) 

The tea is very subtle in this recipe and If I were to do it again I think I may steep the tea several times and compare the bases! All in all, it was delicious and a simple dinner for any lamb lover!

Sencha Ahi Tuna

Tea Tuna.

I have another fun recipe for you using one of the samples that came in my Sips by box! This recipe is for seafood lovers who want to spice up their dinner menu! I've used a sencha green tea from Yunomi to create an ahi tuna steak marinade! 

I've noticed that green and puerh teas have such a rich and often earthy flavor so they pair so well with savory dishes. If you remember my Gyokuro Shrimp recipe, this is a similar idea but with some different spices and a longer marinating time. Tuna steaks are often seared quickly both sides and enjoyed with a somewhat rare inside. The key to this recipe for me is the hours it is marinated. 

My marinade is fairly liquid due to the tea and lemon juice so the tuna is literally soaking it all up. Even if you cook these steaks to be rare or medium rare that meat will have the delicious flavor of the marinade packed into it. 

I decided that I would go with tart and spicy on this marinade with the lemon juice, peel, fresh garlic and ginger. I also used a little bit of basil to cool it down, especially if you choose to use some red pepper flakes like I did. 

I've recently been watching The Great British Baking show and one episode they had to make tea loaves. I thought this was fun because I had recently made tea infused bread (recipe coming soon). I was shocked when one of the judges said that he was impressed with everyone's bread because tea is a difficult ingredient to incorporate into baked goods and food. EXCUSE ME? If you've noticed that my blog has been dominated by recipes lately it's because I'm here to prove that notion wrong! 

When I think of a recipe, it's basically anything that includes water or an ingredient of some sort that I can either use tea as a substitute or brew the tea into the ingredient. Marinades are often liquid so I simply brew my desired tea and use some of it to marinade the tea! You can also use the entire leaves as well as the brew but it's important to pay attention to how bitter the tea will become. Give the leaves a taste before you incoporate them into the dish.   

I grew up brewing tea not paying any attention to brewing times. Persians like their tea dark, or at least my family did and it was always more about color and aroma than how long it had been brewing. Green teas are different. As a general rule, you should follow brewing times carefully so that your tea does not become so bitter, especially if you are using it for food! 

The first brew time suggested 60 seconds which is what I followed. I think that because the meat is raw, it's better if you allow it to cool before adding it to the marinade. If you add hot tea in right away you risk the heat from the tea cooking the ingredients as well as the meat while it marinades. 

Instead of plopping the tuna into the marinade I think it will turn out better if you really soak the tuna. I spooned the liquid over the meat a few times and made sure some of the spices were sitting on top of the tuna. In my directions I mention turning over the tuna during the marinade time, don't forget to spoon the liquid over the tuna again at that point. 

I think the tuna turned out delicious but I didn't SEAR it like you see in many recipes because I poured the marinade over the tuna in the pan. If you want a crisper outside, simply place the tuna into the hot pan without the liquid! 

We enjoyed these steaks with sushi rice and some baked green beans. I have made this sushi rice recipe many times and it's so easy to follow. I only suggest using 1 tablspoon of sugar instead of 3...unless you like super sweet sushi rice!

Bon Appétit !

I would LOVE to know if you try this recipe, feel free to leave me a comment or shoot me an email :) 

Green Tea Kale

Kale Tea.

Every time I cook or bake something I like to see if there is a way to incorporate one of the many teas in my cabinet! Basically anytime there is a recipe that has milk, water or butter, there is a simple way to incorporate the tea! 

I got this Kenya Green Kapchorua tea in my Tea Tim Box. When I first sampled the taste I knew it would be great for cooking. It's low in caffeine and high in Antioxidants! 

I started eating kale in college after I watched a TED Talk about how kale is great food for your mitochondria. Because the mitochondria are the power houses of the cells, it's important that they get something nutritious so that they work well. Kale was difficult to get used to at first but overtime I found out that it really soaks up the flavor of whatever you cook it in. 

I usually add a broth of some sort to the kale to help it cook through and soften. I decided that instead of adding broth, I would add brewed tea and it would have the same effect. It was a huge success! 

Not only is this a fun way to consume tea but its also an easy way to enjoy both the health benefits of tea and kale at the same time!

Just like broth, the tea gave the kale a flavor boost and made it much easier to stomach. Kale gets a bad reputation because of its texture but when prepared well, I think it's very similar to spinach, which I love!

Trader Joe's sells kale already chopped and it's really easy to separate the leaves from the thick stems. I've never really been able to enjoy the stems so I stick with the leaves! 

The combination of sauteed garlic and tea bring out this powerfully savory flavor in the kale. I added mushrooms to my dish because I love them with kale but feel free to add your favorite pairing. I would choose something that can cook fairly quickly. 

Green Tea Shrimp

Green Tea For Dinner. 

I've been sitting on this Gyokuro imperial sample from Zhi Tea for a while, not knowing if I wanted to just taste it as is or be a little more adventurous. One Thing that was mentioned by several people on my 2017 Tea Thoughts survey was that it would be fun if I incorporated tea into food! I created a marinade/sauce for green tea shrimp using the Gyokuro!

After taking in the aroma of the Gyokuro I knew that it would be great in a savory dish. After researching a bit I also found out that green tea is often used in seafood dishes! 

Gyokuro is a special tea. The name of the tea means jade dew and it is a very high grade tea. I learned that like Matcha, Gyokuro is grown in the shade which increases it's nutritional benefits. This similarity to Matcha gave me an idea about the recipe. 

Matcha differs from other teas because the leaves are ground up and you are actually ingesting all parts of the tea as opposed to brewing and throwing out the leaves. That is why I decided to not only include the brewed tea in the recipe but the leaves as well! Double the power of the tea!

I've created a simple graphic to help you create the sauce to cook the shrimp in! 

This is a very simple sauce and I will also go through the process of cooking it with other ingredients but feel free to cook with it however you'd like! For this recipe I bought large raw shrimp. 

I decided to use yellow and orange peppers as well as asparagus. I chopped up all of these ingredients as well as some garlic. 

Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet on medium heat, once hot, throw in the garlic and let it simmer. Once the garlic is browned or has become aromatic, add in the raw shrimp. Stir the shrimp until it becomes slightly colored. 

Add in all of your vegetables and stir with the shrimp. Pour the sauce over the shrimp and vegetables. Make sure that it is all mixed in and covered well.

Cover your skillet with a lid and turn it to low. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes checking on the shrimp to make sure it's not overdone. To check to see if the shrimp is done, cut it open and make sure it's opaque. 

This pairs really well with garlic jasmine rice. I have been making this recipe a lot and it was all inspired by a blue apron diner we tried!

This combination was so good because there is a lot of sauce in the shrimp and veggie skillet to pour over your rice. I suggest serving rice and adding a bit of the sauce and sesame seeds. Top it all off with shrimp and veggies! The green tea tastes great with shrimp! Do you incorporate tea in your recipes?  

Firepot Masala Chai Chicken

Chai Chicken.

I first learned how to cook in high school. Most of my learning was not by recipes but by doing. I always enjoyed baking more than cooking because it was so specific, one wrong proportion and it could all go wrong. Cooking was more flexible but it also left way more room for error. As I've gotten older and cooked much more I've come to love how flexible cooking  meal can be!

I've posted many recipes on infusing tea into baked goods but I've recently been asked if I ever do this with a non dessert meal. I hadn't until I received some firepot Masala Chai from Firepot Nomadic Teas! 

Earlier this week I posted about making tea with the concentrate but did you know it's super easy to cook with it too? Sarah from Firepot Nomadic Teas created fried chicken with this chai concentrate so I thought I would follow suit and make my own baked chicken recipe!

I cook almost every night but it's hard to share my recipes because I often "eye" amounts and decide whether things are are good combination by smell. BUT, for this baked chicken I actually kept track and created a simple recipe! I have some ranges here so that you can create this recipe to your taste

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup Firepot Masala Chai tea concentrate

• 1 pack chicken tenderloins

• 1-2 tablespoons of minced garlic

• One small onion, chopped

• 1-2 teaspoons of sambal oelek

• 2-4 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

• Salt & pepper

Combine ingredients in a bowl large enough for all the chicken. Place chicken in the bowl, cover and let marinate for several hours. 

Heat oven to 350 and cook chicken on a covered baking dish or sheet for about 15-20 minutes depending on the size of your tenderloins. 

This marinade turned out so well! The chai tea concentrate is spicy but also sweet. The garlic and ginger bring out the chai taste and the sambal oelek helps add a little heat to the dish! 

Please give this recipe a try and let me know what you think! 

I had the chance to ask Sarah from Nomadic Teas a few questions and I wanted to share! Get to know Sarah!

1) What sparked the idea for Firepot and how did you think of the name? 

I started Firepot in 2001 when I was cooking at a Tibetan Teahouse in Bozeman, Montana. I was making chai, passionately learning about Fair Trade and tea and the business sprung to life! I was inspired by the nomadic nature of a candle actually-- and thinking how wonderful a transportable pot of fire was... And decided Firepot would work for my own transportable pot of fire, tea!

2) What is currently your favorite tea that you offer?

My favorite in the collection right now is one of our rare, seasonal ones-- Tumsong estate Darjeeling first flush! I've drunk about 5 pounds since it was harvested in March!

3) Can you go share some of the pros/cons of tea concentrate vs loose leaf? 

Concentrate is fast, easy and delicious... Since we brew it for an extended period of time, just like they do on the streets of India, it's potent-- and already is sweet. Our loose leaf chai offers versatility and value- you can add your own sugar or not and make it as strong or weak as you like. Loose leaf tea in general delivers a more uniform and flavorful infusion because the leaves are allowed to swim freely in the water-- not confined to a teabag.

4) What is your favorite recipe you've created with the firepot chai? 

Oh- my favorite recipe was the chai bourbon mule I made this summer for Music City Food and Wine in Nashville!

5) What tea would you suggest for a new tea drinker?

Depending on what the new tea drinker was currently enjoying (coffee, etc...) and where they lived, i.e. what their palate was acclimated to, I'd recommend either a tea with a sweet and easy profile like our Moroccan Jasmine mint (green) Hibiscus Elixir (botanical) or, if they enjoy strong coffee, I'd recommend our Assam or Firepot Breakfast.

6) What is your favorite place to enjoy tea? If you could drink tea anywhere in the world where would you do it? 

I love to drink tea in one of its traditional settings. Sheng Puerh at the gongfucha table of a tea maker in Yunnan, gyokuro at a ryokan in Japan overlooking a tea garden, chai at a stall in Dharamshala, iced tea on my front porch with girlfriends...I have never had mint tea in Morocco and am excited to do that one day. I fantasize about sweet, sensual mint tea in the medina in Fes.

7) Do you have a favorite tea pun? If so which one?

I love you so matcha! Is my favorite tea pun.