Green Tea Recipes

Don’t be disappointed.

A friendly reminder that Christmas Day is nearly here and time flies so fast at this time of the year so we would encourage you to place your order within the next few days to receive your tea or gift sets on time.

We’re delighted to announce that the winner of this fabulous handmade tea pot is Dr. Christopher Pierce of Portland, Oregon USA.




You can view his recipe for ‘Cha’ at Doc's Summer Thirst Quencher.

Dr Pierce goes on to say “I have found that you should get to know the strength and qualities of your green tea before accompanying it with other flavors. The delicious organic Gyokuro you carry conjures the flavors of freshly buttered asparagus and sea air. I am considering creating a Gyokuro marinade for lightly seared scallops. The buttery green nature of the tea will compliment the richness of the scallops. Mmm”

Look out for details of a new competition starting early next year.

Season’s greetings
Charaku wishes our members and friends a very Merry Christmas and a safe and prosperous 2010!

Hurry! Time’s running out! Submit your green tea recipe to be in the running to win this exquisite hand-made tea pot.

Maybe you’ve baked some matcha cookies, confectionary, cakes or created your own drink using Japanese Green Tea as a base. Here’s a reminder of the competition from our Home Page:

Win this fabulous teapot pottered by the famous Tokoname Kyusu factory and valued at over us$100.
Simply email your Japanese green tea recipe to info@tea-charaku.com
The lucky winner will be decided on December 12th 2009 so you will receive the prize before Christmas. The best recipe in our opinion will win.

Here’s a recipe we trialled and enjoyed recently for Matcha Cheese Cake.

Ingredients:

-10 x plain tea biscuits, 40g of unsalted butter
-200g of cream cheese, 100g of granulated sugar, 2 eggs, 100g of full cream, 2tsp lemon juice, 40gm plain flour, 2tsp matcha powder

icing sugar to sprinkle over for decoration


Method:

1. Preheat Oven to 170C
2. Place biscuits in a plastic bag and crush to fine crumbs. Add melted butter, mix well and press into the bottom of a 15cm diameter cake tin.
3. Let cream cheese stand until soft then add sugar and mix well.
4. Add eggs, fresh cream and lemon juice continuing to mix well.
5. Sift flour and matcha together then fold into cream cheese mixture.
6. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 50-60 minutes. If the mixture browns too quickly cover with foil.
7. Allow to cool after cooking then refrigerate until chilled.
8. Decorate with sifted icing sugar.

Bon Appetite!

Doctor Christopher Pierce of Portland, OR submits

For a fresh light spin on my cool weather chai recipe I modify my usual masala chai recipe to use Japanese Green Tea, and less spices.

Ingredients in order of addition & times:

5-minute boil

1 1/2 quarts - filtered water, bring to a rolling boil
2 TBSPs - anise seeds
1 - cinnamon stick
1/4 - vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise, scrapped out
small pinch - whole white peppercorns
small pinch - cloves
small pinch - green cardamon pods cut open

next
1-minute boil
10 - passes over a grater of nutmeg
1 - ginger slice

remove from heat
Add 2 TBSPs - Japanese Green Tea (Charaku suggests 'Matcha' powder)
sweeten to taste with honey

optional: milk or soy milk to taste

Let sit for 3-5 minutes. Sip & enjoy.

Note: Charaku hasn't tried this recipe yet but thinks that two tablespoons of 'Matcha' maybe too much. We suggest you start with two teaspons and add to suit your taste.

It’s true. The much revered Japanese Green Tea can be fun,healthy and rewarding to bake with and chilled green tea is a refreshing summer drink. In fact Japanese food stores are brimming with confectionary flavoured with green tea and drink vending machines stock green tea amongst colas and other popular soft drinks.

This has motivated us to introduce a Japanese Green Tea recipe competition to inspire our members to experiment and share their experiences.

Win this fabulous teapot pottered by the renowned Tokoname Kyusu factory and valued at over US$100.


To be eligable to win simply send in your recipe using Japanese Green Tea to info@tea-charaku.com by December 5th. The lucky prize winner will be decided on December 12th.



To set the ball rolling we tried the following Matcha recipe last weekend with good results. If you have a sweet tooth the introduction of chocolate chips or icing may enhance the taste.


Matcha Muffins
You’ll need 10 x 5cm muffin cups

Ingrediants:
A) (Flour.........................150g
(Matcha......................1 ½ tablespoon
(Baking Powder.............5g

Eggs...........................3
Sugar..........................80g

B) (Vegetable oil..............65ml
(Milk........................... 65ml

Method
1) Preheat oven to 180C
2) Sift A) together
3) Warm a mixing bowl to 50-60C in water and beat eggs and sugar together. When the mixture feels like its reached body temperature whisk until it forms peaks.
4) Fold in the sifted ingredients A) and mix well.
5) Pour the mixture into the muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes.

Bon Appetite.