I’ve never had anything like it. Blogger Tea & Cookies describes it perfectly:

“The tea leaves are fermented, apparently hand-carried back from Burma, and have a deep vegetal flavor unlike anything I’ve ever tasted before. It is mixed at the table with romaine lettuce, peanuts, fried garlic and split yellow peas, sesame and sunflower seeds, tomato, and dried shrimp… It is crunchy and crispy and the flavor is out of this world, a musky, fragrant taste I’ve found nowhere else.”

There are no exact recipes, but Kitchen Caravan has one that apparently comes close:

• 4 cups thinly sliced Napa cabbage (about 2/3 head)
• 2 T unsalted roasted peanuts
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
• 6 medium shrimp, shell on
• 2 garlic cloves + 2 T oil for frying
• 3 T sesame oil
• 2 T green tea leaves
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 1 juicy lime
• 2 T cilantro, finely chopped
• ½ tomato, seeded and diced (optional)

Shell and de-vein the shrimp.

Fill a medium sized saucepan with water and bring it to a simmer. Poach the shrimp until just cooked through, which only takes a matter of minutes.

Remove them from their poaching liquid as soon as they are done cooking, cool, and refrigerate.

Clean the shrimp shells under running water. Dry them well.

Heat up the sesame oil in a small pan, (like this Swiss Diamond 8″ frying pan) and add in the shrimp shells along with the tea leaves. Let them infuse in the oil on moderate heat for 5-10 minutes, then turn off the heat and continue to let them infuse while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Slice the poached shrimps in half lengthwise.

Heat up the 2 tablespoons (I like the Anolon 4-piece measuring spoon set ) of oil in a skillet, and fry the garlic until golden brown. Remove the garlic with a slotted spatula and set it on some paper towel to soak up some of the oil.

Combine the cabbage, peanuts, sesame seeds, shrimp, and tomato (if you are using) together in a bowl.

Drain the infusing oil of the shrimp shells and tea leaves, pressing hard on the solids, in order to extract all of the flavored oil.

Make the dressing by whisking together the infused oil, fish sauce, lime juice, some salt to taste, and the cilantro.

Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well.

Top the salad with the fried garlic.

Related posts:

1. “The Rosenthal” jicama salad
2. Thai Peanut Tofu
3. Caesar Salad Pizza

The recipe is perfectly simple for those sticky summer afternoons.

Peach Sorbet

500 grams peach puree
75 grams atomized glucose
110 grams water
65 grams sugar
3 grams sorbet stabilizer

Pineapple Sorbet

500 grams pineapple puree
70 grams water
75 grams atomized glucose
60 grams sugar
1.5 grams sorbet stabilizer

Kiwi Sorbet

500 grams kiwi puree
225 grams water
65 grams atomized glucose
120 grams sugar
2 grams sorbet stabilizer

Method is the same for all of them

Start by making the sugar syrup. Place the water and the atomized glucose in a small saucepan . Bring to a simmer. In the meantime, whisk together the sugar and sorbet stabilizer in a separate bowl . When the water comes to a light boil, add the sugar and stabilizer mixture, whisk and bring to a boil. When it starts to boil, pour the syrup into a bowl and let it cool slightly before refrigerating. Refrigerate the sugar syrup overnight.

Add the fruit puree to the sugar syrup, mix really well and churn in ice cream machine . Freeze.

Related posts:

1. The Perfect Pineapple Slicer
2. Chinese New Year Pineapple Tarts
3. Cannelle et Vanille