The usage of tea in cooking is not new, and prevalent in the East and South-East Asian cooking for decades.
Serving a complimentary cup of green/jasmine tea as a courtesy to diners is a tradition in most South-East Asian restaurants, and serves as an aperitif and a palate cleanser too.
Pairing of dimsums with tea has been practiced for centuries ever since the tea houses became popular and evolved into dimsum houses of today.
Few city chefs have been experimenting with tea, using it in an array of dishes from salads to desserts. We tap the trend.
Tea, the healthy ingredient
Corporate chef Peter Tseng, Soy Soi at Ardee Mall, Gurugram, says, that given the versatility of tea leaves, these can be used in almost all forms of cooking.
“As a marinade, tea-smoked, powdered and sprinkled, salad dressing, ice cream flavours, stews, and a whole lot more. Not to forget that tea is known to contain antioxidants (catechins) that helps to burn body fat and induce weight loss, caffeine for improved mental alertness and also helps to control diabetes by improving processing of sugar in the body.”
Chef Sahil Singh, head chef, Pa Pa Ya – A unit of Massive Restaurants Pvt Ltd., points out how Matcha goes very well with desserts and can be blended with chocolates.
“Matcha powder is made from compressed green tea leaves after they’ve been deveined and stone ground. The results are sweeter than steeped green tea and extra concentrated with antioxidants,” shares Singh, adding, how matcha now goes beyond just being a key ingredient in Japanese desserts, but has extended to cheesecake, brownie, and tiramisu.
“Matcha’s numerous health benefits might have you feeling less guilty about giving in to these indulgences, but you’ll be too distracted discovering just how well fresh green tea flavour complements your favourite confections.”
Tea as an ingredient is a great way to add grassy, herbal, sweet, and even smoky and spicy notes to your cooking repertoire feels chef Anas Qureshi of Molecule Air Bar.
“Unlike most foods, the many benefits of tea are not lost in the cooking process. Both black and green tea, the unfermented version, are good for health, and deliver anti-oxidants.
All teas reduce the risk of heart attack as they help fight free radicals – unstable compounds formed in the body that impair immunity and can cause cancer, heart disease and premature ageing.
The polyphenol content of green teas is very high, and these antioxidants help cut free radical damage in the body and prevent clogging of the arteries. So, they are good for our heart.
Tea experiments worth biting into
Chef Utkarsh Bhalla at Sly Granny in Khan Market has created an unusual dish with tea – Green tea smoked duck breast, duck tortellini with orange braised red cabbage.
“The idea was to add grassy, herbal and even smoky notes. When green tea leaves hit the hot coal, they unfurl and become toasted, and that roasty flavour is an excellent addition to meats and vegetables. It pairs really well with citrusy braised red cabbage.”
Tea Infused Chicken is another dish that corporate chef Ashish Singh at Café Delhi Heights and Nueva has created. A morsel of chicken is soaked in tea and vanilla pods brine and then cooked to perfection.
At Soy Soi, Corporate chef Peter Tseng uses tea leaves to prepare Burmese Tea Salad – Lahpet Thoke, a dish traditionally viewed as the national salad of Myanmar.
The green affair is a union of different ingredients from different parts of the country: tea leaf, cabbage and tomato from Shan state, peanut, sesame, fried garlic from central and fish sauce (optional) dried shrimps (optional) from west and the south.
The tea leaves used are fermented and pounded with ginger, garlic and peanut oil and tossed with all of the above ingredients.
Chef Anas Qureshi’s Tea crusted fried chicken with pickled green beans and carrots is inspired by their very own Classic Fried Chicken.
“We all love our fried chicken but never thought of giving it a different flavour profile, so this time we thought of crusting the chicken with tea. Chinese Lapsang Souchong tea adds smoky flavour to the chicken which goes amazingly well with the pickled beans and carrot,” he adds.
So, this winter, don’t just sip tea, rather try out the variety of dishes infused by tea.