Tea time
Photo: CFP
The smell of an egg boiled in tea is a memory most of the city's older residents recall fondly. "Tea dish," to give it its literal name, means using tea as an ingredient to cook in regular meals. China enjoys a long history of planting and cultivating tea and possibly the best-recognized tea dish in the country is Hangzhou-styled shrimps with Longjing tea. In Shanghai, a number of restaurants specialize in tea dishes, both traditional and modern. The Global Times uncovers some ways to create genuine, homemade tea dishes.
Tea for four
Tea is put into fish, seafood and meat dishes to dispel unpleasant smells. And different teas are used depending on the food being cooked. Four types of tea are commonly used: green tea, black tea, Oolong tea and dark tea. Their particular use depends on the taste and nature of the food.
Green tea is characterized by tender leaves and a refreshing odor, which is ideal for removing the sometimes strong smell of seafood, for example, Biluochun-fried whitebait. Black tea has a rather bitter taste which makes it a perfect match for strong-flavored dishes like beef and other red meats. Oolong tea has a rich, long-lasting aroma which goes well with fatty dishes as it can remove excess oil. This is particularly beneficial in dishes like Oolong steamed pork leg and Tieguanyin-stewed chicken. Dark tea is considered rather coarse, and uses old leaves that are suitable for making meat bitter. The famous Pu'er tea is the most commonly used dark tea.
When cooking the tea dish, an important principle is to keep the balance between the essence of the tea and the original taste of the other ingredients. Too much tea will overpower the natural flavors of the food. This is especially important when making soup, for example Longjing clam soup. If the Longjing soup overpowers the clams, it's hard to tell whether you are drinking Longjing tea or having clam soup.
Shrimp with Longjing tea
This classical tea dish is not difficult to cook. First, unshelled shrimp meat needs to be cleaned and mixed with egg whites and a sprinkling of coarse salt. Then add starch and MSG powder, stir in, and then leave them half an hour to flavor the shrimp. Pour boiled water onto the Longjing tea leaves. Next, quickly fry the sauced shrimps with a lot of oil and keep a little hot oil left to fry the shrimps for a second time together with the remaining leaves and tea water. You can also add some cooking wine into the mixture.
Shrimp with Longjing tea is a signature tea dish. Similar dishes are Biluochun fried whitebait and fried Yunwu leaves (a kind of green tea).
Black stewed tea
In dishes like black tea stewed meat, tea functions as the "water" while stewing the meat. First, brew the black tea for about 10 minutes and then discard the tea leaves. Slice streaky pork and fry in some oil. Then pour the black tea water over the pork and add some sugar (to remove some bitter flavor of the tea) and salt. After stewing on a low heat for about 20 minutes, the tea should have been totally absorbed by the meat. It is then ready to serve.
Dishes like Oolong fried pork kidneys, tea fish fillets and tea-boiled beef balls are also cooked in the same way. A modified way is to immerse the meat into the tea for a long time in order to absorb the meat and make it easier to digest. Tieh kuan yin-stewed chicken requires a 12-hour soaking in tea before being cooked.
The third method to combine tea and food is the use of tea powder. Tea powders add not only the flavor of tea, but also a slight green tinge to any dish. Tea-flavored chicken porridge is made by combining mashed chicken and Biluochun tea powder which gives the final dish a half green and half white color. Tea powders are often used in salad and dim sum snacks. On tea-scented cashew nuts, for example, green tea powder is used to give the nut a syrupy surface.
An Anhui-styled dish, Maofeng tea-smoked fish uses tea smoke. The essence of the dish lies in the scent of the smoke when the tea leaves have been roasted.
Where to eat
Tea dishes can be found in some of restaurants in Shanghai, among them the Qiu Ping Tea Restaurant, (1/F, 500 Xiangyang Road South, 6212-5758). This tea dish-themed eatery serves shrimp with Longjing tea and tai chi Biluochun soup. Other restaurants have tea dish specials, for example Guilin Mansion (188 Caobao Road inside Guilin Park, 6451-5098). This restaurant offers Pu'er tea meat. And at Baijia Qianwei (5/F, 818 Nanjing Road West, 6217-7793), you can enjoy tea-scented deep-fried shrimps. At Impression Anhui (2/F, 800 Luochuan Road Middle, 5603-5177) you can enjoy tea-scented pie.