IMBB? - Mo Li Li Zhi Steamed Opakapaka

Several weeks ago blogger Santos at TSOGB posted this.  Since her tea flavored granitas looked so refreshing, I was inspired to go buy some tea from the local L'Epicier shop.  There were some new teas available, but after sampling a few, I decided to stick with an old favorite jasmine and lichee (lychee), or mo li li zhi, according to the packaging (tea number LF001).  This tea is light and refreshing, with just the slightest fruity hint of lychee.  It makes a wonderful iced tea, which is how I intended to use it. 

When this month's IMBB event, tasteTea, was announced by Clement over at a la cuisine!, I was a bit apprehensive about participating because I haven't had any experience cooking with tea.  What was I going to do?  Then I remembered this recipe that I had cut out from the local newspaper about 5 years ago and had an idea.  I decided to use some of the tea that I had purchased recently to make a jasmine and lychee tea steamed fillet of opakapaka (pink snapper).  For those of you that are unfamiliar with opakapaka, the fish has firm flesh and a light delicate flavor that is well suited to steaming, poaching or baking. 

The source recipe has inspired me to come up with this one.  Instead of using a butter-based sauce with the fish, I decided to use fresh lychee purée to enhance the delicate fruity flavor of the tea.

Mo Li Li Zhi Steamed Opakapaka

3 cups brewed mo li li zhi
2 opakapaka (pink snapper) fillets (5-6 ounces each)
salt, to taste
white pepper, to taste
ginger, julienned
green onions, julienned
cilantro, leaves only
1 cup fresh lychee, pitted
one tablespoon sugar
juice of one freshly squeezed lemon juice

Season the opakapaka fillets lightly with salt and white pepper, then place inside a steamer basket.  Add prepared tea to the pot and steam until the fish is opaque (about 8-12 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets). 

While fish is steaming, purée the lychee in a food processor with about a tablespoon of sugar and the juice of one lemon.  Simmer until slightly thickened, remove from heat and set aside.

To serve, place half the lychee purée on a plate.  Center the fillet of opakapaka in the middle of the sauce sprinkling ginger, green onions and cilantro over the fish. 

Enjoy!

Comments

[KirkK]

Reid - This looks and sounds great!

[babe_kl]

wooooo can actually taste the freshness of the fish. lovely.

[OsloFoodie]

Wow, this makes me hungry, looks good Reid! Puréed lychee with fish, what an idea :).

[AugustusGloop]

Looks delicious Reid! I never would have thought to combine lychee with fish, but it sounds tasty!

[Cathy]

Hi Reid - what a beautiful photo - it looks delicious! How was it? Did the taste of the tea come through? I'm not really familiar with lychee - I think I've only tasted it once. I recall it being sweet, but can't remember any distinctive flavor.

[boo_licious]

That looks soooo good that I wish you could send some over. Thanks for the wonderful idea of the tea, fish and lychee sauce.

[clare eats]

OH!
This looks great Reid!!!

[santos]

yum! so fresh looking! i'll have to pick up some mo li li zhi next time i'm in town.

[Jack]

Wow, does that look great! My wife is a big tea head and we have all sorts of green/oolong types...I'll have to look and see if we have something similar so I can get busy in the kitchen.

[melissa]

Hi Reid, that looks so delicious! I've always wanted to try the technique of steaming fish over flavored liquid - tea sounds perfect for that, and with lychee sauce to boot all I can say is yum!

[Elise]

Hi Reid - wow this looks delicious! What a great idea to steam fish in tea. Yummmmm.

[Cellounge Admin (Shane)]

Looks very appetizing. I am going to try it.

[Reid]

Hi Kirk,

Thank you. I'm not really a fresh lychee eater, but the sauce made the fish taste quite good.

Hi babe_kl,

Thank you. I'm glad that I was able to find this fish. It's so hard to get these days.

Hi OsloFoodie,

I was quite proud of myself for thinking this one up! =)

I usually don't get ideas like this, so I must remember to try and use fruits more when cooking at home.

Hi AG,

Thank you. The sweetness of the lychee actually went very nice with the fish. I think I might want to do this again with something a little similar, but different, maybe rambutans.

Hi Cathy,

Thank you. I used quite a bit of tea, but the flavor was very subtle. I think I need to use more next time. The lychee purée definitely enhanced the flavor though, so I was happy that I used it.

Hi boo_licious,

Thank you. I think the sweetness of the lychee went very well with the fish. I've never used fruit when cooking fish, but this was quite nice.

Hi Clare,

Thank you. But these didn't look as yummy as those truffles you made. =P

Hi Santos,

Thank you. I was lucky to get some of the fresh opakapaka and at the price I paid (more than US$15 per pound), I felt it was worth every penny.

Hi Jack,

Thank you. It was really good. My thought is that you could use any jasmine tea for steaming. The lychee purée provides a touch of sweetness.

Hi Melissa,

Thank you. The fish turned out better than I expected. The aroma of the tea was there and the flavor was very subtle. Next time, I think I'm going to use more tea and steep it for a little longer (I steeped the tea for 30 minutes).

Hi Elise,

Thank you. This was quite nice, though I wish that the flavor of the tea was more prominent. Since this was my first time making this, I'm going to try and do it again. Hopefully it turns out better next time.

Hi Shane,

Thank you. If you do try this, let me know how you like it. My recommendation is to eat this with a salad instead of starch (like rice).

[Jo]

hmmm... Hey what about smoking with tea instead of steaming? You know Kirk has that stove top smoker... What about using some China Black instead of wood. Maybe a passion fruit puree... ???

[Trisha]

That looks great! It's also healthy too which I love.

I love fruits with fish like last night I made a salmon with a papaya salsa. :)

[clare eats]

if only they wouldn't melt in the post ;)

[Barbara]

I'd never have thought to steam the fish over tea. I'll try it tonight. I'll replace the lychees with kwiifruit and the cilantro with parsley.

[Reid]

Hi Jo,

I never thought of smoking this because I find that this is a very delicate fish. Maybe you could try smoking salmon. I just think that smoking wouldn't be right for a fish such as opakapaka.

Hi Trisha,

Salmon with papaya salsa...mmmm! That sounds really good. I'm really trying to eat at home during the week more, so thanks for giving some dinner ideas!

Hi Clare,

I know.... =(

Hi Barbara,

Thanks for stopping by.

If you do try this, let me know how it goes. Kiwi purée sounds like it would be nice.

[alan]

At the risk of repeating what everyone else has said: that looks delicious! I love opakapaka, and your recipe show great care and thought for the ingredients themselves.

[Jo]

hmmm... I don't really care for salmon anymore. I ate it to death at some point. I've never had this kind of fish though and at that price you would certainly want to treat it carefully! Maybe tea smoked halibut? Or bass or snapper? Cod prehaps? I love cod... Kirk, can I borrow your smoker? ;o)

[Reid]

Hi Alan,

Thank you. *head swelling*

Actually, the inspiration came from the recipe by Russell Siu. I felt that opakapaka (my favorite fish, BTW), was too delicate for a rich buttery sauce. I thought the fish was actually really nice with the lychee purée. In fact, I think the steamed opakapaka would be nice on a salad with a lychee vinaigrette dressing.

Thanks again for the compliment.

Hi Jo,

I think cod would be very tasty smoked. Your idea of using black tea is a good one. If you do tea smoked cod, I want to hear about it. How's about using a kiwi sauce?

[Barbara]

Hi Reid - very successful. I used a smoked black tea and added some chopped ginger to the tarakihi fish. For the sauce - 2 kiwifruit (crushed and then sieved),juice of a lemon, 1 teaspoon of sugar. Great taste and looked stunning on the plate. Thanks for the idea.

[Jo]

Wow Barbara! Sounds awesome... Question for you regarding wording of your post... Did you steam the fish with a smoked black tea, or did you smoke the fish with black tea?

I'm considering smoking with black tea. I love your notion of kiwi sauce as well. My head is seeing swirls of kiwi and passion fruit... maybe?

[Reid]

Hi Barbara,

I'm glad that it turned out well. I've never had tarahiki before, but after doing a little reading on the web, it sounds like it would be perfect for this type of dish.

Next time, I think I'm going to try kiwi sauce (I love kiwi fruit). Thanks for the report back! =)

Hi Jo,

I think she used smoked black tea. There are several tea varieties that are smoked, but the first one that comes to mind is lapsang souchong. I think the passionfruit sauce sounds wonderful. Go for it and let me know how it turns out. =)

[Jo]

Yep, lapsang souchong is what came to my mind as well. That or Peet's "Russian Caravan", but that is a blended tea. Lapsang Souchong was the very first tea I ever had that was known to me to NOT be Lipton. I've loved it ever since. I keep invisioning an pristine white ceramic dish with Yin/Yang done in Passion Fruit & Kiwi. A beautifully white piece of fish carefully centered, a few shreds of lemon/lime/orange zest artfully strewn, a cilantro leaf or two... ::sigh::