Green Tea Is The Secret Ingredient For A More Flavorful Stir Fry

These days, cooks are looking to up the flavor of their stir fries. One way to create a more complex stir-fry sauce comes from adding a popular beverage to the mix. It's amazing how well green tea pairs with other common ingredients found in stir fries, such as soy sauce, ginger, and garlic. And it lends a unique flavor to the dish, too. Once you try adding a bit of green tea, you might never make a stir fry without it again.

Using tea in food can be done in several ways, with leaves used to flavor a variety of dishes, from soups, stocks, and sauces to desserts. There are different types of green tea, and each has its own distinctive flavor profile. Green tea can add earthiness to a dish, as well as a grassy quality. Some have a bit of sweetness, while others can be more herbal or floral in taste. Adding green tea to a stir fry could hardly be easier.

Green tea comes from the leaves of the camellia sinensis plant and gets its name from the color of the plant's leaves. After the leaves have been harvested, they are quickly treated with heat to prevent oxidation or browning. This earthy beverage can be incorporated into your stir fry in a couple of different ways.

If you want to work with the tea leaves themselves, add them when you're sautéing the aromatics –- garlic and ginger; the heat will help bring out the tea's flavor. Remember to begin with a light touch of tea, no more than a teaspoon to start. Powdered matcha is a great starting point since you can add it straight to your stir fry. You could also steep a cup of your favorite green tea and add a little at a time. You'll want to concentrate the flavor more than you would for a regular cup of tea made for drinking. So, use less water than normal to create a more intense brew.

If you're already a fan of green tea, the best variety to try in a stir fry is the kind of tea you enjoy drinking. Remember that its flavor will shape the taste of your stir fry. No worries if you're a green tea novice, as there are lots of great choices for you to pick from. Matcha is a good starting point because it is made from green tea leaves that have been turned into a powder, so is easy to incorporate into dishes. But what both chefs and tea drinkers love about matcha is its earthiness, its vegetal quality, and its bittersweet notes. 

You might like to try sencha, which is a hugely popular green tea in Japan. It has a rich flavor with notes of herbs and grass, making it a great option for a stir fry. Jasmine leaf is another interesting green tea variety. It includes jasmine flowers along with tea leaves, so it is especially floral in flavor. This tea works well with spicy ingredients, so it would be a good one to use in a stir fry. Gunpowder green tea is bold in flavor and has a bit of smokiness that pairs well with savory foods. It also has some nutty notes to it, as well as a little bitterness. Experiment with the different flavors of green tea to find one that works for your stir fry.