How and where can I add tea while cooking?

If you think that tea is just a drink, then you miss a lot of delicious culinary opportunities, including risotto, soup, smoothies and ice cream topping. Read on to find out what else you can cook with tea leaves.

Use brewed tea instead of water for cooking

If you decide to make pasta, rice, risotto, oat flakes, film or any other dish of grain or legumes, for which water is traditionally used, replace it with brewed tea with a taste that suits your chosen dish. Tea with a taste of cranberry, peach, mint, lemon will give an additional flavor to the dish, which ordinary water can not do. In addition, it is a good alternative to sugar, honey and other high-calorie sweeteners. Try to cook rice in lemon tea or oatmeal in peach to start your day right.

Improve the taste of cocktail

Brew your favorite flavored tea, cool it and freeze it in ice cubes, and then store in the freezer. The next time you make smoothies, use ice cubes from flavored tea instead of water. One cup of tea should be used for every three cups of fruit. Try tea with the taste of strawberries, raspberries, lavender, mint or green.

Use the match powder as an additive to different dishes

Matcha is powdered green tea, which has various health benefits. For example, it prevents the development of cancer and has immunostimulating properties. Match has an unusual taste, but you still should give him a chance. In this tea there are many antioxidants that help in the work of the brain, heart, skin and bring other health benefits. The match powder can be added to ice cream, salad dressing, marinade or smoothies. You can also use it when baking bread, adding two teaspoons to each cup of flour.

Soup with tea leaves

Add a large pinch of tea leaves along with the other ingredients in the broth. Cook over low heat until cooked, and then strain. To prepare the broth, it is best to use black or green tea without any additives.

Smoking products and meat using smoke from tea leaves

You can burn the tea leaves and fumigate this smoke with meat, poultry, fish, vegetables. This is a classic Chinese method that gives the products an unusual flavor. You can use any tea leaves, although the best choice is jasmine or green tea. How to do it? The process itself is very simple. It is necessary to lay a wok or a deep frying pan with several layers of foil. You will need it also to close the products. Then you should mix the same amount of tea leaves and raw rice and pour this mixture on the bottom of the frying pan. It must be poured with a small amount of water, so that the leaves and rice smoke, and not burned. In addition, you can use a peel of citrus, cinnamon sticks, anise, nutmeg or other fragrant whole spices. Keep the resulting mixture on medium heat for five minutes until it starts to smoke. Then place the grid on top of it. In order for the smoke to circulate, the grate should be installed at a distance of 4 centimeters from the tea mixture. On the grate, you should put the products, covering them with a lid or foil, and leave for a few minutes. To smoke poultry, you will need 10 minutes, and meat, fish and vegetables will be ready after 5. After that, the products should be removed from the fire and cooked in water until cooked.

Cook the marinade

Brew your favorite fragrant tea and use it as a marinade liquid. Then add butter and your favorite spices, herbs and seasoning. You will get the most delicious marinade for meat.

Brewed tea and oil should be mixed in equal quantities. You can also add aromatic carbohydrates, such as herbs, spices, garlic, ginger, chili and onions. Do not forget a pinch of salt. Suitable and any other fragrant ingredients that you love. Also, do not focus on the exact measurement of all components of the marinade, you can add everything in the quantities that you like. Half of the marinade should be used in order to cook beef, poultry, pork, vegetables, tofu or fish. After cooking, you will need the second half of the marinade - for the sauce with which you will serve the ready dish. To make the sauce, you can add to the remaining marinade a delicious and natural thickener, for example, avocado, yogurt, fruit puree, mustard, nuts or tofu and mix it all in a blender. This sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for about a week, if you use a sealed container for this.

The second life of brewed tea

Use a small container to store the used tea leaves in it. It should be left in the freezer. When the container is full, unfrozen it, chop the leaves and add about a tablespoon to the soups and stew. This will greatly improve the taste of your dishes. Since tea leaves have a strong flavor, the first time is to use a small amount, and then add as needed.