Tea is a superb flavouring and colouring agent, but the leaves and florets lead to interesting dishes, too, says food critic Rahul Verma

I was sipping my morning Darjeeling tea recently when the aroma of the light golden liquid did a slow waltz up my nostrils and reminded me of a visit to a special tea salon several years back. The boutique was stacked with all kinds of teas — black, white, green, and what have you — and you could have your cup of tea with tea-flavoured pastries. I remember, in particular, the delicious walnut tart I ate — prepared with walnuts, white chocolate and creme fraiche, and infused with the aroma of tea and cognac.

Tea, of course, is a superb flavouring and colouring agent. But the leaves and florets lead to interesting dishes, too. Once in a while, when some tea flowers come to our kitchen from a tea garden in north Bengal, we get to eat a chaa-phool sabzi. If the tiny florets are fresh and sweet, they are stir-fried in a bit of oil with green chillies. If dried, the flowers are mixed with a roasted and mashed tomato. My all-time favourite is a Burmese tea leaf salad called lahpet thoke, consisting of fermented tea leaves. It is flavoured with lemon juice and fish sauce, and tossed with a range of ingredients from crushed peanuts and tomatoes to shredded cabbage, toasted sesame seeds, browned garlic and green chillies. You will find some interesting local recipes in regions where tea grows. The Chinese, for instance, have a delicious egg dish called marbled eggs or tea eggs.

Tea is a versatile ingredient. Apart from adding taste and aroma to a dish, it gives you a health boost, for it has all kinds of admirable qualities, including antioxidants. Tea is certainly invigorating — think of how it helps us snap out of slumber and get ready for the day. But you have to be careful with tea, of course. A dish can get too bitter, or too mild. A chef once told me that he had to try out his tea-infused dishes time and again before he got the proportions just right. He used to make an interesting marinade for a roast duck dish. He prepared it with Assam tea, mixed with chopped onions, crushed black pepper, ginger juice, grated orange rind, olive oil and salt. Another veteran tea hand warned me that one had to be careful while cooking with tea, for the flavour of the tea could easily get lost if the other ingredients were overpowering. She used to marinate mutton in tea liquid and kept it overnight, cooking it the next day with just a few spices.

I like the flavour of tea in food. People add tea leaves to chholey for colour (usually in a small muslin bundle, which is discarded once the dish is ready), but I also like the mild aromatic taste it gives to the dish. Likewise, when I prepare kosha mangsho (Bengal’s delicious thick mutton curry, cooked on low heat) at home, I soak the tea in water, and then add the liquid to the gravy when I thicken it for colour.

Tea leaves are suitable for smoking fish, chicken or any other fowl — the tea-smoked duck, for example, is a traditional and much-loved Chinese dish. If you want to smoke a piece of hilsa at home, marinate it with some salt, mustard paste and lime juice. Some people like adding tomato sauce and Worcestershire sauce to the fish marinade. Then, in a kadahi, place some rice and tea leaves. Put a steel net or rack on top of the leaves. When it starts to smoke, place the fish on the rack and cover it with another stove. Your smoked fish will be ready in minutes.

It’s nice to start and end your day with a cuppa. You can drink it — and eat it too.

Marbled eggs

Eggs       4

Tea bags              2

Star anise            1 piece

Soy sauce            1/4 cup

Cinnamon stick 1 inch

Peppercorns      ½ tsp

Method

Put the eggs in a pan filled with water. When the water starts to boil, lower the heat. Allow it to simmer for 8 minutes. Drain the water and put the eggs under running water. When cool, gently hit the unpeeled eggs with the back of a spoon, making cracks in the shell. Now, put the cracked eggs back in the pan. Add the tea bags, soy sauce, star anise, cinnamon and peppercorns. Add water, covering the eggs. Bring it to a boil, and keep it on low heat for an hour. Salt may not be needed because of the soy sauce. Serve with a bit of the liquid from the pan.

— The writer is a food critic