Green tea/matcha recipes - How can I make my own yummies?

[kongni]

Does anyone have some good green tea and/or matcha recipes they can recommend? I'm specifically looking for recipes for baked goods and maybe other 'non traditional' recipes. Thanks!

Here is an image of a shincha leaf cookie that I found on Flickr that sparked my interest

[chamekke]

This book, which contains a huge number of recipes employing Japanese green tea (both leaf and matcha) as an ingredient, is very good:

New Tastes in Green Tea: A Novel Flavor For Familiar Drinks, Dishes, And Desserts



You can look inside it here on Amazon.com.

It has started to turn up on the remaindered tables, too, so you may want to check your local used/remainders bookshop...

[xine]

Yermies....I love cooking/baking with tea (though I haven't had a chance to as of late). Here are some links to posts of some recipes that I've posted before (all in one place):

Matcha Marshmallows
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainme ... 6619.story

chocolate Matcha cupcakes
http://novice-baker.blogspot.com/2008/0 ... cakes.html

Matcha Layer cake with White chocolate cream and plum wine sauce
http://www.sugarbar.org/blog/matcha-lay ... ine-glaze/


Matcha PAnna Cotta
http://lateliervi.blogspot.com/2008/07/ ... lower.html

If you like food porn, try out tastespotting.com and foodgawker.com. Search 'matcha' for more recipes (most are recipes, some are just pictures of food that has been made).

Be sure to share anything you decide to make for our hungry eyes!


-C/xine

[inspectoring]

if you live close to a mitsua store you may just go there and find some good sweets. Believe me, you will find more stuff there than any other place in US. Another problem, to a lesser extent compared to other asian stores, is language barrier. Even if you go there and ask for wagashi or kyusu - 8 out of 10 times you won't find a person who knows what you are talking about.

[chamekke]

Matcha Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1-2 tbsp. matcha
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 lb unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar

Preparation

Sift together flour, matcha powder, and salt. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly introduce flour and matcha mixture, just until combined. Do not overwork the dough. Gently roll out dough on a floured surface. If you are using a cookie cutter, chill dough in a refridgerator for an hour or so that it is less fragile. Bake at 325 F for about 10 minutes, depending on size and thickness of cookies. Keep a close watch on them so they don't start to brown.

Courtesy of Silk Road

[kongni]

chamekke- thanks so much for the book recommendation! I just ordered it

xine- WOW! I am now officially a 'food porn' addict! Thanks for the extra recipe links too

inspectoring- Thanks for the tip. I did a search for 'mitsua' in Michigan and there is a really good one that is a 35 minute drive away. YESSSSS!!!


I'm most interested in recipes that are not loaded with dairy products and sugar which unfortunately are few and far between.

Many of you already know this but good sencha leaves are highly edible after you steep them a few times. Did you know that the term for this 'sencha spinach' is called Chagara? Yup.

Anyone have a favorite Chagara recipe to share? So far I've tried it with my leftover shincha leaves with sesame oil and gomasio. YUM!!!!

[inspectoring]

chamekke- thanks so much for the book recommendation! I just ordered it

xine- WOW! I am now officially a 'food porn' addict! Thanks for the extra recipe links too

inspectoring- Thanks for the tip. I did a search for 'mitsua' in Michigan and there is a really good one that is a 35 minute drive away. YESSSSS!!!


I'm most interested in recipes that are not loaded with dairy products and sugar which unfortunately are few and far between.

Many of you already know this but good sencha leaves are highly edible after you steep them a few times. Did you know that the term for this 'sencha spinach' is called Chagara? Yup.

Anyone have a favorite Chagara recipe to share? So far I've tried it with my leftover shincha leaves with sesame oil and gomasio. YUM!!!!

You are welcome. Go there with some time to spare. Believe me, I just love walking in the isle and trying out things. If its anything like the one I visited, they may have a itoen store. Don't forget to grab yourself some of their matcha. Their most inexpensive one is better than and more reasonably priced than any brand they carry in the store (I have tried a lot of them). Also - stay away from the madden gyokuro. Waste of money.

[hop_goblin]

I know you are looking for green and matcha recipes but you should try boiling eggs in Lap Sang smoked tea! Just boil as you would and let them set in the overnight to soak up some of the goodness. They look awesome as well. They look like alabaster!

[chamekke]

Many of you already know this but good sencha leaves are highly edible after you steep them a few times. Did you know that the term for this 'sencha spinach' is called Chagara? Yup.

Anyone have a favorite Chagara recipe to share? So far I've tried it with my leftover shincha leaves with sesame oil and gomasio. YUM!!!!

I never heard of chagara before - thank you. I looked it up (茶殻) and discovered that the word as a whole means "used tea leaves". The -gara (kara) has the meaning of husk or shell.

This webpage says that you can do several things with used tea leaves:
- When they're damp, you can put them down on tatami mats and then sweep the mats clean (to dust and deodorize the mats - a traditional use that I'd already heard of).
- You can stuff a cloth bag with the used leaves and make a "tea bath" with them.
- You can dry them out and stuff them into shoes for deodorant and antibacterial action!

Of course they're talking about run-of-the-mill green tea leaves, not gyokuro. I'm going to try your chagara recipe the next time I enjoy gyokuro; now those are tea leaves!

I did manage to find a page of savoury recipes for chagara... gosh, they sound really good, too! Gyouza stuffed with tea leaves! Tea-leaf furikake! Even through the Google translator, it's possible to make out most of the cooking instructions. I'm tempted to try the furikake.

[inspectoring]

I did manage to find a page of savoury recipes for chagara... gosh, they sound really good, too! Gyouza stuffed with tea leaves! Tea-leaf furikake! Even through the Google translator, it's possible to make out most of the cooking instructions. I'm tempted to try the furikake.

well - the pictures look awesome - only one problem...I can't find a step by step guide....but thank you for the awesome resources...

[inspectoring]

Alright guys....YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS!!!!!!!!!!

I was just picked up a can of itoen gyokuro - and was wondering what I could do with it.

After 2 hot infusions and 1 cold infusion (for about 3 hrs) I was about to throw away the leaves but then decided to add 2-3 drops of sesame oil and 5-6 drops of ponzu sauce (sort of a soy sauce with some other stuff in it) and it tastes awesome!!!!!!...

So far I have thrown away at least a pound of this stuff and add that to another lb of dens/harney/hibiki.....hmmm....so sad...

In any case guys - enjoy!!..

[kongni]

inspectoring- I think I'm going to wait to go to the mitsua until I can coordinate it with a sushi making par-tay. I read that this particular store in Michigan has an especially good selection of fish . Also if you check out the links above the pictures on the page chamakke posted, it will lead you to a broken English recipe that is actually not too hard to follow if you have good cooking intuitions. Those dumplings look fun to make!

hop_goblin- OMG! I'm DEFinitely going to try making Lap Sang eggs! Can I get away with less leaf or should I put them in a brew that reflects a normal pot of tea?

chamekke- WOW! Thanks for finding this info! You are a web search master!!!!

[xine]

Alright guys....YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS!!!!!!!!!!

I was just picked up a can of itoen gyokuro - and was wondering what I could do with it.

After 2 hot infusions and 1 cold infusion (for about 3 hrs) I was about to throw away the leaves but then decided to add 2-3 drops of sesame oil and 5-6 drops of ponzu sauce (sort of a soy sauce with some other stuff in it) and it tastes awesome!!!!!!...

So far I have thrown away at least a pound of this stuff and add that to another lb of dens/harney/hibiki.....hmmm....so sad...

In any case guys - enjoy!!..

Hmmmm...i'm going to try this when I'm back home. YUMZZZZ Maybe over some rice???

[xine]

Found another lovely recipe-though seems a bit more advanced...some molecular gastronomy thrown in there, but perhaps we can all enjoy the thought of eating green tea tiramasu!!

http://thai4real.blogspot.com/2008/08/g ... amisu.html

ps: also moving this thread over to iced tea & food forum

[jewelbug]

Found another lovely recipe-though seems a bit more advanced...some molecular gastronomy thrown in there, but perhaps we can all enjoy the thought of eating green tea tiramasu!!

http://thai4real.blogspot.com/2008/08/g ... amisu.html

ps: also moving this thread over to iced tea & food forum

Doh! I was brainstorming for tea recipes the other day for teachef and thought my idea for tea-ramisu was so original. I was clearly wrong!