Cooking With Tea - Tealicious

The wonderful hot oops and cold beverage is there for sipping right? Wrong it is there for cooking as well. Yes the leaves are added in food. Our own Indian cooking is a fine example were the leaves are added for color as in Chole.  

So take a fine blend of the leaves and start cooking. You never know, the contemporary trend is of innovation in cooking. Hook on to a food channel and discover mind boggling fusion cooking taking place. I was reading on an online portal called sunset.com  about many recipes that use the tea leaves for creating mind boggling food.    

Best types of leaves used for cooking are the jasmine flavored ones. Another wonder addition is the Darjeeling Leaf. Lapsang Souchong China.is another good choice. Genmacha and flowery Matcha from Japan. Addition of Indian Chai Masala can create wonder. So don the apron and light the stove. Here Goes!  

Here are some examples. 

Smoked Tea Duck

The crust in this case is created using the leaves and rice. This result in a crispy tealicious crust.  

Leaf Crusted Tofu

A crust of leaves is created and cooked along with mushrooms and cabbage.   

Green Tea in Soup 

Simmer in vegetables and broth the choicest green leaves and create a mind boggling soup.  

Darjeeling Dashi

Japanese soup stock with Darjeeling Leaves! Tealicious! 

Chai Spiced Cookies

Using English Breakfast Chai Leaves the extra softened bread creates tealicious cookies!

Cran Berry Green Tea Smoothie

Delicious and loaded with antioxidants. 

Black Berry Leaf Sorbet 

A refreshing desert with energizing black leaves post dinner! 

Find here recipe details at sunset Tea Recipies

Different tea recipes

Enjoying a cup of tea with the family or friends will obviously give some sort of emotional pleasure to people who really care about season, time and personal moods. Often considered as one of the best hot beverages on this earth, tea can serve countless purposes for an individual who likes to feel and do different from the crowd. Owing to the different versions and recipes of tea, it is much better to choose your best tea format which suits your mood and outdoor climatic variations.

Hot tea will give a window to your tension, sickness and cold weather when it is consumed at perfect time. Strangers will became more familiar and culture barriers will dissolve in this cup of tea. Here, you will learn more deep and comprehensive about the different recipes which are common and healing in nature for the emotional wounds.

Mint tea
Requirements
·         Tea – ½ tsp
·         Crushed mint leaves – ½ tsp
·         Water – 1 cup
Add the crushed mint leaves and tea after bringing water to a boil. Leave the teapot still for just 3 minutes after pouring boiled water on to the leaves. You can serve this after straining the mixture.

Spiced tea
Requirements
·         Tea leaves – ¾ tsp
·         Boiling water – 1 cup
·         Scalded teapot
·         Whole cloves – 2
Just put the tea leaves and whole cloves in boiling water and pour some boiling water on to the cloves & leaves in a scalded teapot. Leave the tea still for 3 minutes and serve it after straining.
Orange tea
Requirements
·         Water – 2 cups
·         Cinnamon – ¼ tsp
·         Orange juice – 1 ½ cup
·         Grounded cloves – 1/8
·         Sugar – ¼ tsp
·         Teabags – 2
Add water, sugar, spices and tangy orange juice in a saucepan and bring it to boil. Keep the mixture simmering on a reduce heat flame so that components are dissolved. Add tea bags after removing the saucepan from the heat to steep it for exactly 5 minutes. Tea bags must be strained out before serving the orange tea hot.

Green tea
Requirements
·         Green tea leaves (loose) – 1/3 cup
·         Black tea leaves (loose) – 2 tsp
·         Whole cloves – 6 or powdered cloves – ½ tsp
·         Ground cinnamon – ¼ tsp
·         Powdered ginger – 1 tsp
·         Milk
You are required to blend all the ingredients and put ½ of this mixture into teapot. Add hot water into the mixture and keep an equal amount of milk on the flames. Steep your tea as you wish for the flavor and tea strength after which the tea should be poured in a mug after straining. Also, milk should be added to the mug after which you will have to blend the mixture with the tea.
Here, you are free to store the blended tea mixture for future uses.

Enjoying Green Tea

Best way green tea can be had is plain dark with little sugar and a dash of lime. The secret of enjoying green tea is to buy the right kind of leaf. I like Darjeeling green leaf the best though Darjeeling black leaf is no less aromatic and flavorful.

Darjeeling leaves carry a unique aroma and flavor though the aroma is strong and fills the whole room the flavor is subtle and tends to be on the sweeter side unlike that of the black teas from Assam which are a bit bitter in taste.

Another way to enjoy green tea is with milk and sugar and add some spices like ginger and cardamom. For more exotic taste add cinnamon powder. I find lemon grass tea yuck! But it has immense health benefits especially when you are down with cold and a bad throat.

Some people add garam masala or a mixture of spices to green tea in India but I believe this concoction suits the black variety more than it suits the green tea beverage. Never the less spice tea is common in India and who like to add what is his or her business after it is your cup of tea or Chai as they call it in India.

Green tea or black tea?

What do you do when you drink hot beverage for taste and health both? This is if you are drinking black tea and want to switch over to green for health benefits. Well both are healthy and both are fragrant and full of flavor. The difference is green leaf imparts a muscatel taste and light flavor to your taste buds whereas black leaf delivers strong aromatic taste and aroma. If you are hooked on to any one type of flavor you are not going to enjoy the other…well most likely.

There is a clear cut answer do what I do. Mix both i.e. more of green and little less of black tea. You can change proportion according to your preference in your recipe as per the taste and flavor you prefer. Believe me the result is wonderful …and the advantage …you are getting health benefit from both type of leaves.

Green tea is rich in antioxidants and poly phenols while black tea has many other healthy chemicals that help fight disease. The different arises from the way both are processed which is differently. Thus both contain healthy chemicals in different proportion and of different types to put it in a layman’s language.

Buy green leaf and black leaf as loose or dip both black tea bag and green tea bags if you use this packing for making the brew.

Enjoy the best of the both tea worlds.