Behind the scenes with chef Nuril
Tea-smoked chicken – how did you come up with that?
Nuril:
I was inspired by the way people prepare duck in Hong Kong. Some places smoke their duck using oolong tea leaves, and it creates a beautiful fragrance!
So no, I didn’t come up with that, I just built on their technique.
I also drew upon my experience working in restaurants – we’d sometimes smoke salmon Japanese-style, using rice and brown sugar.
It creates a different type of smoke from the Hong Kong style – it’s very caramelised. Combining tea, rice and brown sugar – that’s all me!
What about the tea mint dip?
Tea mint dip was something I learnt in college. My chef and I had food service one night, with some special guests. We had prepared roast lamb, and we needed to make mint sauce, and quick!
Sometimes in food service, you need to think on your feet, so the chef taught me how to make a really quick mint sauce with some tea.
It tasted delicious, and apparently certain hotels use a similiar recipe, because the tart tannin flavour cuts the fatty flavour of the meat.
What is your advice for home chefs trying out your recipe?
This tea-smoked chicken recipe is very doable for home chefs, because basically all you need is dried tea leaves and raw rice, an old wok and aluminium foil!
To smoke the chicken, line the wok with some aluminium foil before you start to protect it, then use more foil to create an airtight hood over the bird.
If you’re feeling adventurous, you can even try the recipe with fish.
Or, try poaching some fish shabu-shabu style in tea – the possibilities with tea are endless!