Time for a new recipe. As you might know, at Thee.be, we love to do more with tea than just pour it into a cup. This fantastic drink has a sea of qualities that are multi-purpose.
This time I worked with Long Jing, a Chinese green tea and one of my favorites in this class of tea. It is exceptionally accessible, of high quality, and since it is roasted, the taste is delightfully toasty. It tastes more nutty than, for example, a Japanese green tea, which will taste more grassy. This tea is also a good choice in combination with dishes. I chose to combine it with seafood. Its taste forms a harmonious whole with the scampi. In food pairing, I like to look for combinations that enhance each other. Combinations where both the taste of the tea and the dish become stronger when you combine them. Long Jing and scampi form an ideal match!
We’re working with green tea, so we also want to ensure an ideal temperature for our water. Green tea is particularly sensitive to temperature. Therefore, it’s best to take a maximum boiling temperature of 80 degrees Celsius to avoid bitterness in your tea and to get the most aroma out of it. This way, the dish gets the most flavor.
I can definitely recommend also drinking a bit of Long Jing with your dish. The taste of tea is subtle, and by also drinking some tea, the great match is further highlighted.
The following dish is for two people and can be served as an appetizer or combined with rice and/or salad, for example.
Ingredients
- 1 egg white
- 50 g flour (or 30 g arrowroot)
- 16 scampis
- 1 large tbsp Long Jing tea
- 2 spring onion stems
- 1 tbsp Chinese Rice Wine or Mirin (or dry sherry)
- 1 tsp flour mixed with 2 tsp cold water
- Pepper and salt
- Olive oil
Instructions
Whisk the flour and egg white in a pot to a dough. Add pepper and salt and then add the scampis.
Heat a thick layer of olive oil in a pan on high heat. When the oil is hot, add the scampis and fry very briefly (about 10 to 15 seconds). Remove the scampis and let them drain on some kitchen paper. Also remove the olive oil from the pan, but keep your pan.
Brew your tea using about 150 ml of water and 1 tbsp Long Jing. Let it steep at about 80 degrees for two to three minutes. Cut your spring onion into very fine rings. Also mix 1 tsp flour with 1 tsp cold water and set it aside.
Put the scampis back in your pan on medium-high heat. Add the spring onion, 50 ml of the tea, the Chinese rice wine, and some tea leaves from the Long Jing you’ve already brewed. Add the water-flour mixture. Season with pepper and salt.
Remove from the heat and serve, optionally with rice.
Serve the remaining tea in a cup with the meal.
Enjoy!
