Photo courtesy: http://www.thebittenword.com

Just as ground hog day heralds the arrival of Spring, Memorial day heralds the arrival of “barbecue” season. THa annals of cooking are filled with lore about Southern barbecue ribs served with ice cold tea. But this memorial day, why not add some flair to your barbecue and introduce your friends and family to a variation of barbecue that includes tea.

There are several ways to include tea into your barbecue. One quick way is to brew some very strong tea, and mix it with your favorite barbecue sauce. Our Ananda tea is perfect for this quick method. Here is how you would prepare the sauce:

• Allow half cup water to come to a boil.
• Add two tea spoon of Ananda tea, and allow it to boil for 4-5 minutes
• Strain the tea using a regular tea strainer
• Mix one part of tea to two parts of your favorite barbecue sauce
• Rub the marinade over ribs or chicken or tofu per your preference and barbecue as per your favorite method

Another method is a variation of the Chicken Tikka dish, and utilizes lighter darjeeling tea. Here is my receipe, which you can try out this barbecue season.

• 4 tea spoon Rungmook Cedar Tea
• 1 Cup Yoghurt
• One bunch fresh coriander leaves
• 2 Tea Spoon Ginger paste
• 2 Tea Spoon Garlic paste
• 4 Tea Spoon Garam Masala (Can be purchased here)
• 1 Tea Spoon Chillie Powder (less if desired)
• 4 Tea Spoon Lemon Juice
• 1 kg chicken (breast or thigh) skinless and cut into 2″ chunks
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped capsicum
• 1/2 cup chopped carrots

• Soak tea in just enough warm water.
• Mix yogurt, soaked tea leaves, chillie powder, garlic & ginger paste, Garam masala in a bowl
• Rub marinade on chicken breast(s) and leave overnight in the refrigerator to marinate
• Next morning, drain the excess marinade off and grill chicken breast on medium flame for 10 minutes or more until well cooked
• Spread chopped carrots, chopped capsicum and onion on a plate to make a bed. Place grilled chicken on the bed and sprinkle lemon juice and salt over it. Serve hot

Of course, no barbecue is complete without iced tea. To make iced tea for a large number of people, its often better and cheaper to make iced tea with loose tea. Here is how to make iced tea.

• Bring two cups of water to boil
• Add six tea spoons of Mangalam Estate Assam Tea and boil for 4-5 minutes
• Strain tea into a large container and dissolve two cups of sugar (or Splenda - for diabetics)
• Allow to cool and add six cups of chilled water
• serve chilled on ice cubes

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Author: Dr. Madhulika Pareek-Joshi, President, Jaya Tea
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