Like many of you, it is a daily struggle to come up with something different every night for dinner.
So often, because of our busy schedules, my husband and I stick to the same boring meals each week because it’s hard to come up with something everyone will love with the ingredients we have on hand.
One night, thinking about what to do with chicken breasts for dinner, I had an ingenius thought. Why not marinate my chicken breasts in our Wu-Long Tea? I’ve used the tea in smoothies, so why can’t I cook with it too?
I brewed a cup and poured over my chicken breasts and let sit for a few hours.
I then baked them up using this recipe and my family loved it! No one could really detect the tea flavor, but the tea had tenderized the chicken and gave it an added boost of antioxidants and juiciness!
I then began thinking what else I could use tea for in cooking to add in another level of nutrition for my family?
So far, I’ve marinated chicken, ribs, steak, fish, and used tea instead of water when making brown rice and vegetable side dishes.
Apparently, tea is the newest trend in the Food Industry. Used in many gourmet restaurants, tea adds new and unique dimensions of flavor, texture and aroma to recipes that have become too boring and overused. It seems that tea is not only “hot,” but deliciously edible as well!
My mind was blown! The more I experimented, the more I realized just how versatile Camellia Sinensis (the tea plant) could be. Here are just a few examples…
Tea as a spice:
Simply grind tea leaves in a pepper mill (I personally recommend our Oolong) and combine with white pepper. This makes an unbelievably delicious rub, perfect for a steak or a pork chop. The tea adds a wonderfully fresh Asian-cuisine nuance to this otherwise ordinary meal.
Tea as a marinade:
Wondering what to do with that extra Oolong tea left in the teapot at the end of teatime? Don’t dump it…. Use it! Try adding it to your favorite marinade for chicken breasts for an out-of-this-world addition that will be sure to have your guests wondering the source of the mysterious (yet familiar) flavor. As a vegetarian option, tea marinated tofu is a wonderful substitution in this dish. Use brewed tea in place of water in any recipe for a unique and delicious flavor – your family won’t know they are gaining all of the benefits of Oolong while also eating healthy. 🙂
Tea as a tenderizer:
Among tea’s many benefits and effects, it is an efficient tenderizer. Want to get that falls-off-the-bone, melts-in-your-mouth effect for that dish that is great, but could be even better? Try adding some tea! For amazingly moist and tender ribs, place ribs in your crockpot and add in a cup of brewed Wu-Long tea and let cook for 6-8 hours. You will not believe how they turn out!! Best ribs I’ve ever had!
The benefits of cooking with tea seem almost as innumerable as drinking it. When cooking with oolong tea, it retains many of the essential vitamins and antioxidants as well as the HDL’s (good cholesterols).
Oolong tea is not only a refreshing, delicious and healthy beverage, but also one of the most versatile and interesting ingredients used in the kitchen.
I recommend that you consider using your favorite Oolong tea in your culinary exploration. Like many chefs say about cooking with wine (“Do not cook with a wine that you wouldn’t drink”), for the best results, use the tea that best fits your tastes.
You are limited only by your imagination in this journey for the search of new ways to take your tea.
What are some other ways you use your Wu-Long Slimming Tea?
Happy Sipping! Cheers to you!
Yours in Health & Happiness,
Chrissy
P.S. Choose from our 3 different Oolong Teas when cooking for a slightly different flavor. We have our Original Wu-Long Slimming Tea, Certified Organic SlimTea & SlimTea Kenyan Blend.
