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Chinese Tea Pairing

These days in sophisticated circles tea pairings are all the rage, tea sommeliers are sought after and meticulously crafted tea list are appearing in glamorous New York and Paris restaurants and hotels. One would think tea is a new discovery and not a product that frankly has been around for thousands of years. This tea renaissance is not really about the drink itself but about the ways in which tea is drunk in Asia and especially in China. Expect to get tableside matcha (Japanese whisked powdered green tea) service, or gong-fu tea, a traditional Chinese way of preparing and serving tea.

Tea is a truly artisanal product and in China, its birth cradle, there are millenary varieties and a myriad of ceramics and clay pots that enhance the ways to enjoy tea. If you buy some nice oolong and use a plain old mug, you are not going to get the same pleasure as if you had a small tea set and tea tray. I highly recommend that you get an Yixing tea pot (the shapes are so whimsical), a gangwan (lidded cup) or a porcelain or ceramic tea pot and small porcelain white tea cups.

Tea with its amazing nuances and flavors that range from flowers to seaweed has been in the last decades totally eclipsed by coffee and the huge corporations that run its shops. Although the tea market has increased from $2 billion in 1990 to $10 billion in 2014, it is still premature to tell if we will wind up drinking a “double shot oolong with jasmine milk” in a global teashop.

Because I love tea parties I wanted to host a tea party where Chinese teas would be paired with nibbles like they do in the grand hotels of London like the Savoy and Claridge’s but set in a Chinese teahouse. Tong yuan cha she is a Dalian teahouse where every detail has been looked after. From the moment you walk in, you are charmed by its décor and its selection of nicely packaged teas. The way they serve their great quality tea is elegant and peaceful and if you have visited other teahouses or markets before, their style will be a revelation. If you are new to tea this should be your first venture. The owner not only has impeccable taste but also his own tea gardens in Fujian hence various teas come from there. His tea ware is unique with some highly curated tea wares like pottery from Taiwan, porcelain from Jingdezhen and teapots from Yixing both hand-made and semi-hand made.

We choose three teas: Tie guan yin from Anxi, Wuyi rougui (cinnamon bark), an oolong from Wuyi mountain and Pu’er from Yunnan.

Tie guan yin is immensely popular in China. It is a very seasonal and delicate tea that does not age well. It is a borderline green tea even though it is classified as oolong. The English name is Iron Goddess of Mercy. It’s very floral, light and straw color. Its floral notes are astonishing because they are totally natural. Use a gangwan to steep it. Using the Chinese method of steeping tea several times you can probably get 4 infusions out of the leaves.

Wuyi Yan Cha means rock tea from Wuyi mountain in Fujian. It is stronger and closer to a black tea with stone-fruit and spice notes and when you smell the tea pot there is a scent of pipe tobacco that I find irresistible. Do multiple steepings in an Yixing teapot.

Pu’er is a really unique tea with a flavor that comes from the fermentation of the leaves and tastes at first strongly of soil and earth but then mellows. There are many types of this tea we selected “cooked” Pu’er rather than a raw Pu’er, which is more challenging to pair. In Chengdu, famous chef Lan Guijun at his restaurant Yu Zhi Lan serves raw Pu’er cleverly as an aperitif. For “cooked” Pu’er tea you can use an Yixing teapot or a lidded cup. Wash first and throw the water out then do multiple steepings.

The teas were served with quintessentially British scones and chocolate truffles dusted with cocoa, recipes are below. Cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches also added a dash of British coolness.

For a Chinese touch get sunflower seeds, sweet cherry tomatoes and gufaguyuangao or ejiaogao, a cake made from donkey gelatin, a famous and highly prized Chinese medicine ingredient (don’t be squeamish, all commercial gelatin is made from animal bones!), jujube, walnuts, sesame seeds, yellow wine, rock sugar and goji berries.

Chocolate truffles

225 grs 70% chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cups heavy cream
¼ cup of tea leaves (Wuyi Rougui or Earl Grey)
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
Unsweetened cocoa powder, for rolling and dusting

Place chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan, heat cream until it is almost boiling. Take off the heat and add the tealeaves and let it steep 5-10 minutes covered. Strain the cream back onto small saucepan and discard solids. Bring to a boil again. Pour over chocolate, cover bowl with plastic wrap and let stand 2 minutes. Uncover and slowly whisk chocolate mixture until smooth. Mix in salt. Pour into a clean bowl and refrigerate until completely set, about 1 hour. Don’t let it set too hard.

With a teaspoon or melon baller, scoop out chocolate mixture and place on a tray lined with parchment paper. Coat hands with cocoa powder and roll truffles into balls; place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate until set approximately 15 minutes. Put cocoa powder in a bowl and roll the truffles in the bowl until covered. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Take out the fridge 30 minutes before serving.

Tea scones

250 grs all-purpose or cake flour
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
25 grs sugar
40 grs of softened unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg
100 ml of milk approx.

Pre-heat oven to 200 Celsius.

Place flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Whisk together.

Use your fingertips quickly to cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few slightly larger butter lumps. Stir in sugar.

Beat the egg in a measuring jug. Pour the milk up to the 100ml line. Set aside a tablespoon of this mix for brushing the top of the scones later.

Stir in milk and egg mix to flour mix with rubber spatula or fork until dough begins to form, about 30 seconds.

Transfer dough and all dry bits to the counter or a big chopping board and knead dough by hand just until it comes together into a rough, slightly sticky ball, 5 to 10 seconds. Form the dough into 1 disk and cut out 4cm rounds using a cutter or small glass (dipped in flour to prevent sticking). Gather the trimmings and form a disk again. Cut out scones. Repeat until you have no more dough.

Place scones on baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Brush with egg and milk mixture.

Bake until scone tops are light brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes 12 small scones.

Adapted from Mary Berry’s tea scone recipe.

Tags Focus on Dalian

Articles China Recipes

Chinese Greens

After a long holiday in Europe I have to admit that I never want to eat potatoes again (we eat way too much of them!) and that I the Chinese and Asians in general have us beat when it comes to vegetables, especially leafy greens. In China, these vegetables like choy sum, bok choy and spinach are transformed into delicious and appealing dishes. We, in the West eat vegetables sparingly and hence we have created enormous problems in terms of obesity, diabetes type II and all the illnesses associated with them.

The ready-made food aisles have gotten longer and the fresh part of the supermarket smaller and smaller. Worse still we are at the hands of corporations who have us hooked and who spend hundreds of millions of dollars on manipulating our cravings. Once you go down the route of processed food it is very hard to get back on track.

I recently read Lorraine Clissold’s “Why the Chinese Don’t Count Calories” and was enthralled by her experiences in China. She clarified certain things for me: how in China there is a never a main dish item at the table like in the West, how the Chinese eat more calories than Westerners (according to The China Study, which examines the relationship between the consumption of animal products and chronic illnesses), how diet and health are inexorably linked in Chinese cooking (certain ailments require you to eat certain things) and many more fascinating things.

Although this book is out of print you can still find second-hand copies of it flying around.

It is perplexing how we have not taken on more of Chinese healthy every day cuisine to the West: the great variety of leafy greens, the stir-fries, all the varieties of tofu and the multi-dish approach. Fuchsia Dunlop, a famous Chinese food expert complains that Chinese food is consistently underrated.

If you are living in China and want to increase your consumption of vegetables do try to cook some Chinese style. Here are two easy vegetable recipes that I cook at home.

Spinach with ginger and garlic

400 grs spinach
1 tbsp cooking oil
2 tbsp garlic, chopped
1 tbsp ginger, grated or chopped
1 tsp salt
1tsp sugar

Wash spinach throroughtly. Remove stems. Heat wok over high and add oil. When hot add garlic and ginger. Stir fry for 10 seconds being careful not to burn it and add spinach. Stir-fry for a couple of minutes until the leaves are coated in oil. Add sugar and continue to cook for a couple minutes more until the spinach has wilted to one-third of its original volume. Pour off excess liquid and serve on a plate.

Bok Choy with Fresh Shiitake mushrooms

300 grs bok choy
5 shiitake mushrooms
½ tsp potato flour mixed with 1 tbsp water
2 tbsp cooking oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp grated ginger

Wash the bok choy and cut each head into four quarters length-ways. Remove the stalk and discard and cut cap in half. Bring a big pot of water to the boil and add 1 tbsp of salt. Blanch bok choy and mushrooms until leaves are wilted. Take out and drain. Add oil to the wok and heat. Add ginger and garlic and stir-fry for 10 seconds or so until fragrant. Add mushrooms and bok choy and stir fry for a couple of minutes. In the end add the potato flour mixture and mix. Season to taste.

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Moroccan Tagine

Morocco’s gastronomic jewels are easy to conjure up by merely walking into any spice shop or on occasion by perfumes with notes of orange blossom or rose water.

Whereas some cultures gastronomies are more visual, and others rely strongly on taste, Morocco is all about the nose.

Walk around Marrakesh with its hidden riads or small palaces and all you get are the smells of lamb tagines, a sort of light stew, of harira, a chickpea and lentil soup and of mint tea.The charm of the riad is that the opulence is never on the exterior. Behind a white simple wall with a door lie patios with exquisite tiling and fountains and gardens scented with jasmine and orange blossom.

Moroccan food is sweet and colourful with a lot of spices. They use dried fruits and nuts to great effect and introduce a fresh and acidic note in some dishes by using preserved lemons in salt.

Moroccan lamb is delicious and much lighter than European. Because of its Muslim heritage there is no pork or alcohol in Morocco.

Undoubtedly Morocco’s national dish is couscous, miniature granules of durum wheat steamed and served with meat stew. Due to their long-standing relationship couscous is a firm favortite of the French. Chicken B’stilla, a meat pie, is a royal dish from the courts of Al-Andalus, the Arab kingdom in Southern Spain. Sweet and salty meat is wrapped in a delicate pastry called werka and baked. Moroccan salads are delicious and varied and make the sweltering heat a little more palatable. Djeema el Fna in Marrakesh with its fantastic food stalls is a great place to watch and eat all that Morocco has to offer.

Tagine of Lamb with Almonds and Raisins

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

3 lb. of shoulder of lamb, cut into ½ inch cubes
1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
generous pinch saffron
4 tbsp butter
2 large onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
salt to taste
6 ounces raisins, soaked in water and drained
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup peeled almonds
3 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped

Mix the cinnamon, ginger, pepper and saffron with 4 tablespoons of water. Toss the lamb in this mixture. Melt the butter in a pan. Add the lamb, onions, garlic, salt and enough water to come halfway up the meat. Bring up to the boil, cover and reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Cook for about 1 hour, turning the lamb occasionally, until the meat tender. Add the drained raisins, honey, the almonds and half the coriander. Continue simmering for a further 30 minutes or so, uncovered until the sauce is thick and unctuous. Taste and adjust seasoning. Sprinkle with the rest of the coriander.

Serve with couscous.

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Articles Recipes

Cottage Pie

What people eat tells you a great deal about a country and this is no exception in Great Britain where comfort food is king. You just have to look at a dish of cottage pie, a layer of seasoned minced beef covered with a crust of buttery potatoes and you can figure out a few things: the weather is chilly, they have lots of cattle, they use butter instead of oil and they use ovens.

Great Britain is a beautiful land where you could experience all seasons in just one day and where the vegetation is green and lush year round. This temperate weather is what gives them beautiful year-round gardens. Proximity to the sea has given them potted shrimp (shrimp preserved in butter), smoked and dried fish, fish and chips, fish pie and the wonderful seaweed samphire.

The food is robust and protein-centric from an Asian point of view. Famous dishes are steak and kidney pie, roast beef and Yorkshire, Bangers and Mash (sausages and potato mash) and Scottish cock-a-leekie, an unusual but delicious soup made with beef, chicken, leeks and prunes. The traditional breakfast is not for the faint-hearted and includes sausages, bacon, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and fried bread. In terms of vegetables they love peas, potatoes and are very partial to rhubarb in sweet preparations whereas the Chinese use only the roots for medicinal purposes.

The Brits also eat game, a wide array of cakes and puddings and enjoy take outs of Thai and Indian food. They are credited with the invention of the sandwich, so pragmatic and portable. Cheddar one of the best cow’s milk cheeses in the world comes from Somerset in England. If the world had a food capital it would be London with its multi-cultural restaurants, historic pubs and markets.

If you want to learn more I find British cookbooks wonderfully written with warmth and wit. Food writing is an art form and while there are legends like Jane Grigson and Elizabeth David in modern times you have writers like Nigel Slater and Diana Henry who are also producing exceptional cookbooks.

Cottage pie

Serves 6

2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1kg minced beef
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons plain flour
350 g shitake mushrooms, chopped
1 400 g can chopped tomatoes
1 beef stock cube in 400 ml of water
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tbsp miso paste
1kg potatoes, peeled and chopped
5 tablespoons milk
2 tbsp butter

Preheat the oven to 200C

Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the mince in batches and fry until brown all over. Add the onion and carrot and fry for a few minutes. Add the garlic.

Sprinkle over the flour, stir for a minute, then blend in the chopped tomatoes, the chopped mushrooms. Add the stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, cover and cook for 40 minutes to 1 hour until meat is tender. Add soy sauce and miso paste. Place in an oven-proof dish.

Set aside to cool while you make the potatoes

Boil the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender, drain and return to the pan.

Add the milk, butter, salt and pepper and mash until smooth.

Spread the potatoes over the meat. Place in the oven for 35-40 minutes, until bubbling and slightly golden on top. Serve hot.

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Healthy Japanese

Every so often you find that your cooking is in a rut and that you regurgitate the same recipes again and again. If you need a change of pace or are looking for healthier food alternatives I would, without a doubt, recommend Japanese food.

There is no sense in me going on about its health benefits. The beauty of Japanese women speaks for itself. Their delicious ultra healthy diet bestows them with lustrous hair, perfect skin and thin frames. In Asian hotels I do try and catch a glimpse of what they eat for breakfast: miso soup, fish or omelettes and am quick to hide my naughty pain-au-chocolat and bacon.

Dalian has a population of about 6,000 Japanese people so you are always bound to find good Japanese restaurants and ingredients. Jiu Guang has a great selection of Japanese style meats and ingredients. It’s pricey, but worth it unless you are an ace at meat chopping and slicing.

My Japanese pantry contains the following: miso paste of various colors and flavors, sake, mirin, wasabi, pickled ginger, soba, tofu, ichimi togarashi and seaweeds like hijiki and wakame.

With great speed and little equipment you can prepare most Japanese dishes. A bowl of miso with clams or tofu and seaweed is never more than 10 minutes away. Chicken teriyaki, a dish adored by children the world over, can be made in a flash.

In Japan, fish is revered and eaten in many ways from baked in salt to sushi. Rice, like in China, is a staple and vegetables accompany every meal. What makes Japan distinct is an emphasis on aesthetic harmony that compared to other countries is a critical part of food culture. The food is presented in a myriad of plates in all shapes, colors and sizes. Meals are also balanced by containing the five flavors: sour, salty, sweet, bitter and spicy. If you fall in love with Japanese food like me do rush to the top of floor of theTea Market and get yourself cheap Japanese bowls and dishes from the dusty and messy restaurant supply store there.

Japanese cold dishes are easy, beautiful and can be made ahead.

Tofu with bonito flakes and green onion

Ingredients

1 block of silken tofu
1 green onion thinly sliced
½ cup of bonito flakes
2 tsp. grated ginger
soy sauce

Cut the tofu into 4 portions or smaller if you desire.

Put in individual plates and sprinkle with the ginger, green onion and bonito flakes.

Drizzle with the soy sauce.

Hijiki with carrots

1 cup of dried hijiki
2 tbsp of vegetable oil
2 small carrots, julienned
1 cup of dashi (bonito stock)
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp mirin
1 tsp sugar

Soak the hijiki for about 5 minutes. Drain and rinse. In a wok add vegetable oil and stir fry hijiki until soft. Add carrots and stir-fry for a couple of minutes. Add bonito stock and simmer until carrots are tender for about 10 minutes depending on size of carrots. Add mirin, sugar and soy sauce.

Spinach with sesame paste

Ingredients

300 grs of spinach
3 tablespoons of sesame paste
½ tsp of sugar
2 tbsp of dash (bonito stock)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Bring salted water to a boil and add the spinach. Boil for a minute. Rinse with cold water and squeeze firmly and cut into small sections. Mix sesame paste, sugar, dash and soy sauce to make dressing. Mix with spinach and serve. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Tags Focus on Dalian, Japan